Sagunt a Escena revives The Threepenny Opera with Coque Malla
The 43rd edition of the Sagunt a Escena festival staged The Threepenny Opera (La ópera de los tres centavos) on 8-9 August, starring musician Coque Malla, at Sagunto's Roman Theatre (Teatro Romano).
Sagunto's Roman Theatre (Teatro Romano) hosted one of the most anticipated events of this year's Sagunt a Escena festival last weekend, 8-9 August: a staging of The Threepenny Opera (La ópera de los tres centavos), with singer and actor Coque Malla leading the cast. The production, part of the festival's 43rd edition, came alongside a dance performance in a summer programme that mixes theatre, music and performing arts inside the ancient Roman venue.
The Threepenny Opera is no ordinary choice for a stage like Sagunto's. The piece was written by composer Kurt Weill with a libretto by playwright Bertolt Brecht — with help from Elisabeth Hauptmann and set designer Caspar Neher — adapting the 18th-century English ballad opera The Beggar's Opera by John Gay. It premiered on 31 August 1928 at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in Berlin and, nearly a century later, became one of the most widely staged works in European musical theatre, known for its critical take on capitalist society that still resonates on stages worldwide.
Leading the cast is Coque Malla — the stage name of Jorge Malla Valle, born in Madrid in 1969 — who arrives in Sagunto with a career that started long before he went solo. He fronted the rock band Los Ronaldos, recording five albums between 1987 and 1998, before launching his solo career that same year. His work, which blends music and acting, earned him the 2019 Goya Award (Spain's top film prize) for best original song, for "Este es el momento", written for the film Campeones.
Sagunt a Escena's programme has run throughout the summer at the Roman Theatre, with a line-up ranging from the opening production "El Narciso en su opinión" at the start of this 43rd edition, to later shows such as an unconventional version of Hamlet performed by actors with Down syndrome later in August. The Threepenny Opera adds to a summer packed with stage productions that mix revisited classics with contemporary work, all performed on the tiered stone seating of the Roman site.
Sagunto's Roman Theatre is more than just another venue: alongside the Castle, it is one of the city's major heritage landmarks and regularly hosts both Sagunt a Escena and other summer festivals focused on classical performing arts. Staging a production like The Threepenny Opera on its tiered seating, with a performer as well known as Coque Malla, fits a wider city strategy that combines archaeological heritage with high-profile cultural programming to draw audiences throughout the summer, both from Sagunto itself and from elsewhere in the Valencian Community.
The festival does not end with this performance. Sagunt a Escena keeps its programme running well into August, mixing premieres, revisited classics and shows for all audiences across different venues in the city. Anyone who missed the weekend of 8-9 August can still check the rest of the line-up through the usual channels of Sagunto City Council, which also handles practical details such as schedules, access and advance ticket sales for each production staged at the Roman Theatre during this 43rd edition.
In just a few summer weeks, the Roman Theatre ends up hosting very different kinds of productions: from a Central European opera to free adaptations of classics like Hamlet, alongside street shows from the Off Romà programme. That variety is part of what defines Sagunt a Escena, which since its first edition has aimed to combine big national names with more experimental work, establishing itself as one of the Valencian Community's leading summer cultural events.
For much of the audience from Puerto de Sagunto, the town's industrial and coastal district, cultural events like this in the old town are also a chance to engage with the city's Roman heritage beyond its everyday use. Bringing together both sides of Sagunto — the historic centre and the port — around a shared cultural programme is, for the City Council, part of the appeal of a festival that each summer draws residents from across the whole municipality to the site's stone seating.
For Sagunto City Council, large-scale programming like this — featuring performers with a national profile — strengthens the Roman Theatre's role as one of the Valencian region's leading summer cultural venues, while also giving the city's cultural tourism an extra boost during the summer season. According to elperiodic.com, with additional background from Wikipedia on The Threepenny Opera and Coque Malla's career.