Dead Dog in a Suitcase and Other Love Songs: 2014
A new Beggar’s Opera
- Written by Carl Grose
- Music by Charles Hazlewood
- Directed by Mike Shepherd
- Lighting designer: Malcolm Rippeth
- Sound designer: Ian Davies
- Designer: Michael Vale
- Choreography: Etta Murfitt
- Puppets: Lyndie Wright
Dead Dog in a Suitcase and other Love songs was made with the Liverpool Everyman in 2014.
You can hear Mike talking about the production here.
Potential co-producers and venues were nervous saying that their audiences wouldn’t come to a show with that title. We believed that a new audience would come: a Dead Dog in a Suitcase audience. A big thank you to Gemma Bodinetz and Deborah Aydon at the Liverpool Everyman for having faith and giving us such wonderful support.
The play was based on John Gay’s Beggar’s Opera of 1725 which railed against the ruling classes and the disparity between the rich and the poor, and Bertolt Brecht’s Threepenny Opera of 1929/30. This was a brand new version written by Carl Grose, and composed by Charles Hazlewood. This was our ‘shout’ against the corruption and inequality of the world. To quote Brecht “the world is poor and man’s a shit “
Our version reflected this desire. Dead Dog toured extensively to new audiences nationally and internationally.
