First staged in 1928 in Berlin, "The Three-penny Opera" is one of Brecht's most successful plays. Based on John Gay's 18th century"Beggar's Opera", the play is a satire on bourgeois society, deposit its setting in London's post-Victorian Soho. The hero-villain of the play is Mac the knife who is sharp, ruthless, and rash but at the same time representative of bourgeois values and business ethics.
Then there are other gangster's, policeman, priests, beggar-operators, who set the scene of wheeling-dealing, corruption, betrayal and conspiracies with no holds barred. They play may appear to be farce but it is a scathing attack on the hypocritical values and cut-throat competition of a capital society. Shahid Nadeem's adaptation places it in inner Lahore's Tibbi district. With its proliferation of prostitutes, pimps, gangsters, beggers, shady characters, dark alleys, drug-pushers, it can take pride in being Lahore's Soho. Mac the Knife becomes Fooka Terror of today's Tibbi and it is not difficult to see the contemporary political and social relevance of the play.
As a backdrop to the theme and to the particular style employed in these productions, Ajoka has used popular visual images (Truck Art) which helps to create the ambiance of a Lahore we all know exists but which many of us would visit only under the cover of nightfall.