Under the cover of his South London pub, Peachum plies a successful trade in small-time scams. But his world is shattered when the charismatic villain, Macheath, not only plans to marry his daughter, Polly, but to move into dangerous levels of criminal activity. In Nick Dear's contemporary version of Gay's The Beggars' Opera, we are shown a modern London teeming with petty thieves, gangland hoods, corrupt politicians and bent coppers.