John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera follows a band of hard-drinking, double-crossing thieves, rogues, and sex workers in the criminal underworld of 1720s London. The play centers on crime kingpin Peachum’s quest to exact revenge on Macheath, a womanizing highwayman who has secretly married Peachum’s daughter, Polly. While little-known today, the play was a huge success in its era—by some accounts, it was the biggest theatrical hit of the 18th century. Technically, it is a “ballad opera,” which is similar to a modern musical. In John Gay’s time, most operas paired sophisticated classical songs with serious, high-minded plots about mythology or nobility. Instead, The Beggar’s Opera is a musical comedy designed for the masses: it focuses on lower-class antiheroes, and its 69 “airs” (arias, or songs) are all satirical adaptations of well-known folk tunes. Throughout the piece, Gay mocks London’s criminal underworld, England’s corrupt political system, and most of all, opera itself.
Fittingly, The Beggar’s Opera opens with a Beggar talking about opera. Dressed in rags and claiming to be the work’s author, he briefly tells a Player (actor) that he has adapted the grand conventions of Italian opera to the harsh realities of life in London’s slums. Then, Act I of the play really begins. Peachum sings that everyone in society cheats and abuses everyone else all the time, which makes him no worse than anyone else. As he goes through his account book with his henchman Filch, his business model becomes clear: he works with a band of thieves, buying the valuables they steal and reselling them at a profit. But when his thieves stop bringing in enough revenue, he turns them in to the authorities at Newgate Prison. He gets a £40 reward, and they get executed.
As Peachum debates whom to turn in this year, Mrs. Peachum explains that their daughter Polly is in love with Macheath, a particularly adept and gallant thief. Peachum declares that marriage is a sham that men use to manipulate and control women. Mrs. Peachum agrees, but also believes that Polly should have the same rights as a man: she should be able to love her husband and sleep with other men on the side. Next, Filch admits to Mrs. Peachum that Polly and Macheath have already gotten married in secret.
When Polly gets home, her parents confront her in a fury. They insist that Macheath is using her for money, but she says that she truly loves him. Mrs. Peachum faints in distress, but Peachum hatches a plot. Since Polly is Macheath’s wife, if he dies, then she will get all of his property. So if Peachum can turn Macheath in and get him executed, then the Peachums will get rich. Unsurprisingly, Polly finds this plan appalling. She goes to her room, where Macheath is hiding, and warns him. They sing about their love and sorrow at separating, and then Macheath sneaks off.
Act II opens with a group of thieves drinking in a tavern, praising their own virtues and arguing that it is honorable to steal from the rich. Macheath joins them and sings that Polly is foolish for loving him because he can’t resist the temptations of “free-hearted Ladies.” Surely enough, eight such ladies—sex workers who also rob their clients and turn them in for bounties—join him in the tavern. While they distract him with kisses and flirtatious songs, Peachum and the police enter and arrest him. Two of the women, Jenny Diver and Suky Tawdry, boast that Peachum paid them to turn Macheath in.
Macheath arrives at Newgate Prison, where Lockit, the aptly named jailor, immediately demands a bribe. Macheath reluctantly pays him, and Lockit gives him lighter shackles. Macheath sings about how women trick men, leading them to ruin. Ironically, at just that moment, he sees Lockit’s daughter Lucy—who is pregnant with his child, and whom he promised to marry. Aware of Macheath’s second marriage to Polly, Lucy calls him a “perfidious Wretch” and “Insinuating Monster!” But he insists that Polly is lying.
Meanwhile, Peachum and Lockit debate how to split the £40 reward for Macheath’s capture. They complain about corrupt politicians holding up their bounty payments, until Peachum accuses Lockit of breaking agreements with prisoners and stealing bounty payments. Furiously, Peachum and Lockit each threaten to turn the other in. But they remember that this would destroy their business, so they agree to disagree instead.
Lucy begs her father (Lockit) to release Macheath, but he refuses. Then, Polly Peachum comes to Newgate to see her “dear Husband” Macheath, only to find Lucy with him. Lucy and Polly realize that Macheath has lied to them and sing an angry duet. However, Macheath then takes Lucy’s side and calls Polly a liar. This turns Lucy and Polly against each other. Before their fight can escalate, though, Peachum finds Polly and drags her home. Meanwhile, Lockit takes a nap, and Macheath pleads with Lucy to steal his keys. She agrees, and Macheath escapes.
Act III begins with Lockit confronting Lucy. He’s less angry about her letting Macheath escape than about her forgetting to solicit a bribe for it. She admits that Macheath was probably manipulating her, and Polly was probably telling the truth about marrying him. Lockit concludes that Peachum planned the whole thing—he convinced Lucy to free Macheath so that he could turn Macheath in again and claim the whole £40 reward.
After escaping, Macheath drinks and gambles with two other thieves, Ben Budge and Matt of the Mint. They all complain that common criminals like them get punished for lying and stealing, while the rich and powerful get rewarded for the same thing. Then, they leave to commit some robberies and visit some of their favorite ladies.
Meanwhile, Lockit visits Peachum at his warehouse. They discuss Macheath’s escape and agree that their daughters are foolish for trusting him. The madam Mrs. Diana Trapes visits Peachum to buy some clothes for her workers, and she casually mentions that Macheath has gone to visit one of them (Mrs. Coaxer). Peachum eagerly heads to Trapes’s brothel to capture Macheath again.
At Newgate Prison, Lucy Lockit sings about her “Jealousy, Rage, Love and Fear.” She decides that, if she wants Macheath to herself, she has to murder Polly Peachum. After Polly arrives, Lucy repeatedly offers her a glass of poisoned cordial—but Polly refuses it. (She assumes that Lucy wants to get her drunk to “pump some Secrets out of [her].”)
Peachum and Lockit find Macheath with Mrs. Coaxer, arrest him, and lead him back to Newgate for his trial and execution. But before he goes to trial, Lucy and Polly both beg him to choose them as his true wife. He refuses. Lucy and Polly also beg their fathers to free Macheath, but they refuse, too.
After his trial, Macheath drinks alone in his prison cell and sings several songs about women, drinking, and society. Ben Budge and Matt of the Mint visit him to pay their last respects, followed by Lucy and Polly, who say they wish they could die along him. Then, “four Wives more” come to visit Macheath, each with a child. Fed up, Macheath decides to go straight to the gallows.
But just before Macheath’s execution, the Beggar and Player from the opening scene come back onstage. The Player announces that Macheath cannot die, because a good opera needs a happy ending. The Beggar agrees and promises to rewrite the final scene. Instead of being executed, then, Macheath inexplicably goes free. The play ends with a joyous song and dance scene, in which Macheath tells Polly that she is his one true wife.
