Drama

The Beggar’s Opera

by John Gay

Gay set his highwaymen, fences and gaolers to the ballad tunes everybody knew, and made the thieves of Newgate talk like the politicians of the day. It opened at Lincoln’s Inn Fields in January 1728 and ran for sixty-two nights, a longer run than any play in London had had before. It was said to have made Gay rich and the manager, John Rich, gay.

The librarian

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Reading time

About 1 hr 10 min

Where to find it

Lilliput

Edition

Project Gutenberg, eBook #2421. In the public domain in the United States.