THEATER / MARK CHALON SMITH : Making Head, Tails of Brecht : UCI Troupe Tackles Controversial Translation of ‘Threepenny Opera’

The 1989 Broadway revival of “Threepenny Opera” will probably be remembered as the show where Sting took a high dive into an empty pool. Critics gave the rock star a nod for courage but otherwise blasted his “monotonous” and “unknowing” stage debut.

Although Sting generated much of the bad press for his portrayal of the cocky gangster, Macheath, there was another mini-controversy dogging the production at the Lunt-Fontanne theater. Tucked between the barbs was an argument over Michael Feingold’s new translation, which tried to reflect Bertolt Brecht’s original text more closely than previous efforts.

Most reviewers liked all the salty talk, especially its “lacerating” and “shocking” edge, but a few found it overly scatological and even “silly” in spots. Whatever the opinion, Feingold’s translation was pretty much doomed to obscurity with everything else in the show.

Until now. When UC Irvine’s production of “Threepenny Opera” opens Saturday night at the Irvine Barclay Theatre, Feingold’s words and phrasings will be used by the mostly student cast. The production marks the West Coast premiere of the translation, said Eli Simon, a UCI drama professor and the show’s director.

“We’re extremely happy to get the chance to do this, simply because we think it is really reflective of what Brecht intended, especially from a sociological” point of view, Simon said.

After a pause and a laugh, he added, “Of course, I suppose nobody (in the theater community) was beating down the doors to get to it, I mean with the (problems with the) Sting production and all. But we’re pleased to give it a rebirth . . . we haven’t given up on it.”

The confidence, Simon explained, is inspired by the translation’s ability to clearly evoke the Victorian England world of pimps, hookers, beggars and other assorted scoundrels Brecht and composer Kurt Weill first presented to audiences in Berlin in 1928.

Brecht and Weill, who used John Gay’s 1728 parody, “The Beggar’s Opera,” as their model, offered “Threepenny Opera” as a sharp-tongued and grinning attack on bourgeois society. It’s not the kind of piece that welcomes polite language, Simon said.

But, traditionally, that’s what American theater-goers have come to expect. Since the ‘50s, the “more sanitized” translation of Marc Blitzstein has been the text of choice; a response, Simon believes, to the popularity of the American musical, which was seen as more entertaining than provocative.

“We have to remember that Brecht was writing for a different set of sensibilities, that he wanted to represent the underclasses in powerful, probing ways,” Simon said. “The Blitzstein version always seemed to me quite outdated; it felt watered-down and sugar-coated. To keep (‘Threepenny Opera’ commercially) viable 40 years ago, Blitzstein had to make it more reflective of musicals of the era.

“But Feingold goes back to the source (and) reaches for the words and sensibilities of Brecht. Sure, it takes chances and is scatological, but it’s also more visceral and affecting . . . gangsters, pimps and whores don’t go around saying ‘thank you’ and ‘please’ all the time.”

The decision to use Feingold’s version is just another step in the department’s evolution, Simon said. UCI wants to stage pieces that challenge both theater students and audiences, and this “Threepenny Opera” fits nicely into the plan.

“We’re not interested in offending people, but in provoking thought. We’re attempting to do material that stretches the boundaries, that’s the goal of theater.”

In fact, Simon noted, “Threepenny Opera” was chosen in reaction to the Los Angeles riots that erupted six months ago. The department wanted a vehicle that would touch on “the ghetto-ization of society and the widening gap between segments of that society, which is just what Brecht set out to do,” he said.

The production is expected to place demands on the audience, especially where the direct language is concerned, but also on the student cast. Simon knows that Brecht’s non-traditional, unnaturalistic approach to theater--where intensely dramatic readings are interspersed with operatic moments of music and song--is difficult for even the most professional of performers.

But that’s where the campus “learning experience” comes in. “Of course, this is an incredible challenge for the cast (because) Brecht gives everybody the opportunity to work on a new style of presentation, what we tend to think of as ‘Brechtian theater,’ ” Simon said.

“We usually try to teach the logical course of acting, but this is more of a montage. The performance itself takes very sharp breaks within itself, where (the actor) must move in another direction in a split-second way. There’s the story and then the music, a hodgepodge of American jazz, Argentine tangos and German army songs. It really is kaleidoscopic.

“You have to have talented people, and I think we do. They can act (and) sing, and I think they find ‘Threepenny’ refreshing. I just hope that shows up in the production.”

* UC Irvine’s “Threepenny Opera” opens Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive, Irvine. Performances continue Sunday through Wednesday at 8 p.m. and Nov. 27-29 at 8 p.m., with 2 p.m. matinees on Nov. 28 and 29. $6 to $15. (714) 856-6616.