Seven Deadly Sins
& Mahagonny Songspiel
Constantine Costi and his team present a Kurt Weill Double Bill of operatic cantata, dance, and theatrical mayhem. The Seven Deadly Sins (Weill/Brecht) sees two sisters hustling their way across America. They will charm and swindle to make ends meet in any way they can to survive.
Mahagonny Songspiel (Weill/Hauptmann/Brecht) is a manic celebration of the fall of a fictitious city, Mahagonny, whose gold façade is nothing but a cover for nausea, vice, and despair. The Fitz has always been a space where anything is possible, and for the first time it will be home to a debauched operatic spectacle.
Presented by Red Line Productions
Director Constantine Costi
Choreographer Shannon Burns
Associate Director Tabatha McFadyen
Conductor Brian Castles-Onion; Simon Bruckard, Simon Kenway
Set Design Charles Davis
Assistant Set Design Cris Baldwin
Lighting Design: Trent Suidgeest
Costume Design Emma White
Stage Manager Chris Starnawski
Cast: Margaret Trubiano (Anna I),
Allie Graham (Anna II), Ben Rasheed, Andy Moran, Anthony Mackey, Nicholas Jones, Roberta Diamond
Orchestra: Ensemble Apex
Repetiteur Antonio Fernandex
Producer: Dino Dimitriadis
Premiere March 31, The Old Fitz Theatre
“ Anna II is the figure who can traverse the worlds of the double bill. In Mahagonny, she enters a world of sex, drinking and vice – everything that hadn’t been opened up to her in The Seven Deadly Sins. From the repressed world of Christendom, Anna II suddenly finds herself on this roller coaster of debauchery, decadence, and fun. If there are no rules, what happens? What are the repercussions? It’s a case of damned if you do and damned it you don’t – the morality of two polar extremes.” Even Anna 1 may be a kind of matron saying, “no, no, no”, but she’s also grappling with her own sense of what’s right and wrong, and what’s at stake. A lot of the works I love deal with the ancient question of what to do with the human animal. Do we let it run wild and free? No. Do we try to neuter and defang it? No. I think these two pieces investigate that question in a compelling way.”
“With our tiny 60 seat theatre with its leaky roof only 10 minutes from Sydney’s red light district, I think Brecht and Weill would have been very excited at the idea of taking their pieces out of the opera house or concert hall and into a completely unexpected venue.”
Constantine Costi, Limelight Magazine
