Macheath, AKA Mack the Knife, has been imprisoned. The chain holding him captive spools out across his cell, long enough to let him come right to the edge of the stage. Being the restless sort, that is exactly what he does.
Played by Gabriel Schneider in Barrie Kosky’s Berliner Ensemble production, he is a lithe, punky sociopath in black vest and charcoaled eyes, somehow maintaining his outsider status despite a voice that is warm and rounded. You can see his appeal to the women he so effortlessly seduces, even as you recognise him as the most slippery of antiheroes.
