Polly (opera)

The author

John Gay was born in Devon in 1685; he was briefly an apprentice to a silk merchant in London, thus gaining familiarity with the city. His years of apprenticeship gave him much of the material for the success he would receive later on in life. After his apprenticeship was complete, he returned to Devon, and went to London in 1707 to pursue success as a writer.

For a time, Gay worked as Secretary to Arthur Hill, a friend from Barnstable Grammar School. Hill was interested in theatre and became manager of a company owned by William Collier, who was then a Tory Member of Parliament. Despite the job lasting just two years, Gay gained much experience as Hill’s secretary.

Gay’s entrance to theatre

At the time, writers were dependent upon wealthy patrons for financial support. A small sum was inherited by Gay from his brother, and in 1712 he obtained a position with the Duchess of Monmouth. This position helped him to get acquainted with those who would later become his patrons – especially the Duke and Duchess of Queensberry.

Gay had also been noticed by Alexander Pope and the Scriblerus circle, by this time. Gay’s first play The Mohocks was never staged due to politics, after that came The Wife of Bath. However, with The Shepherd’s Week, produced in 1714, Gay achieved his first major success.

But it was with The Beggar’s Opera that Gay was to achieve his greatest success.

The Beggar’s Opera

The Beggar’s Opera was a ballad opera produced on January 29, 1729, by John Rich. In this, Sir Robert Walpole was caricatured. A double allegory lies in the satire – the characters of Polly Peachum and Macheath represent the famous highwayman and gangster Jonathan Wild and the Cockney housebreaker Jack Sheppard. The audience understood Jonathan Wild to represent Walpole himself – whose government had been tolerant of Wild’s thievery and the South Sea director’s escape from punishment.

The Beggar (the author of the tale) introduces the play – and it tells the story of a love triangle between the highwayman Macheath, his fence’s daughter Polly, and the jailer’s daughter Lucy (who is carrying Macheath’s child). When the marriage of Macheath and Polly is discovered, the fence determines to send Macheath to Newgate. Polly warns him, but Macheath is betrayed by the whores, and sent off to Newgate, where Lucy finds him, and takes him to task about his supposed marriage to Polly. Macheath assures her it is not true, thereafter Lucy helps him escape. However, Macheath is captured again and is sentenced to be hung. As he is to be hung, the jailor brings in four other wives, each with a child. Macheath says it is all too much, and asked to be hanged – in a separate scene, at this point; the Beggar (the author) is persuaded to change the ending from a hanging to a sad ending. In the end, Macheath must settle on Polly as his only wife.

The ballad opera was, under disguise, a satire on society – Gay, through describing the moral codes of his characters, shed light upon the corruptions of the working class. At its debut in London, the play broke all previous records and was performed more than any other play during the 18th century. It marked a complete departure from the popular Italian operas of the time, and used both dialogue and music to carry on the story. The music was taken from wherever Gay could find it – in fact, 41 of the 69 airs were contemporary broadside ballads. The other tunes were borrowed from contemporary composers like Handel. Lyrics were written to fit these tunes.

The Beggar’s Opera is notably different from other plays of its time because Gay, instead of taking his plot from myth, instead wrote a story focusing on the dark underbellies of society – jailers, thieves and whores. It is a period romp that satirizes not just society but also politics.

Polly

Polly was the sequel written by John Gay to The Ballad Opera – the play relates the adventures of Polly Peachum in the West Indes. In the play, Macheath is transported to the West Indes, and becomes a pirate. He is in the company of Jenny Diver, the prostitute from the first play who had betrayed him – so Macheath is living bigamously. Polly goes to the West Indes looking for Macheath. The play ends with Macheath being executed, and Polly marrying the Indian prince Cawwawkee, after her period of mourning.

The play, like its predecessor, was censored during its time. The production was forbidden by the Lord Chamberlain, probably through Walpole’s influence. However, the censorship did not affect Gay much – on the contrary it proved as excellent advertisement. The play was published by subscription in 1729, and Gay earned several thousand pounds.

In fact, the Duchess of Queensberry was dismissed from court for enlisting subscribers in the palace. The Duke of Queensberry gave Gay a home, and Gay received affectionate patronage until his death on December 4, 1732.

The play was not produced on stage during Gay’s lifetime, as Walpole found the satire in Polly much more blatant and strong than the first play. It was banned from rehearsal by the Lord Chamberlain for being a filthy and libelous work. However, since Polly followed close on the heels of its predecessor, it was probably not so much the subject matter, rather the fact that it was a play by Gay – that caused it to be banned.

However, the ban was effective only in name, as the play was not only printed and sold in April 1729, but in June of the same year, Gay and his publisher had injunctions brought against 17 printers and booksellers for piracy of the work.