The Beggar's Opera

John Gay's 'The Beggar's Opera' is a watershed in the sphere of English drama that marks a departure from the Italianate courtly operas of its time, instead offering a satirical pastiche that thrives on the very essence of paradox and social critique. Gay flouts the traditional high-brow tastes and fervently adopts a style that blends the everyday verisimilitude of lower-class life with the bawdy ...