The Beginner’s Guide to Mahagonny

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In June 2014 audiences were invited to explore the bizarre and dangerous city of Mahagonny through a thrilling new online project that sought to bring Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s satirical opera ‘The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny’ to life for a whole new audience. Commissioned by Sky Arts to accompany a radical new production of the opera performed in Dublin in June 2014, this multiplatform adventure played out over Twitter, YouTube videos and blog posts. You can find out more about the creation of the project here:

Beginning one month before the theatrical run, the online story introduced us to a brand new set of characters with their own unfolding stories in the city of Mahagonny. Then, once performances began, audiences witnessed the events of the opera spilling over into the web narrative with devastating consequences for our heroes.

Although the project is now finished, you can still re-live the adventure…

Join the search for the mysterious city of Mahagonny…

Meet our heroes: Paul Gallagher, a naïve young writer commissioned by online travel company Threepenny Travel to find mysterious city of Mahagonny and Kurt Furey, the brilliant but unstable journalist he has been instructed to find. As their stories begin to entwine, a high-stakes game will play out with both of their destinies on the line and the future of the city at stake.

How to follow the adventure:

Paul’ Blog
Throughout the story, Paul, documented his journey on his online blog and this is the best place to catch up with everything that happened. His ‘What’s The Story?’ page is the best place to get started whether you want a quick overview of the action or you want to delve into all the twists and turns of the adventure.

The Video Page
As the story unfolded, both Paul and Kurt captured their thoughts and experiences on camera. All of their videos can be found here in the order they were revealed. This is also the place to find the trailers and adverts used to promote the project.

The Threepenny Travel Website
The mysterious travel company who recruited Paul for his mission created an online ‘city guide’ for Mahagonny. Here you can explore the map of the city and find out more about the locations that feature in the story. It is also the place where Kurt, having admin access to the page, documented his activity (some of which was more than a little disturbing…). The ‘Admin’ panel in the top right provide links to a bit of background on Paul and Kurt as well as access to their various social media accounts.

Twitter
Both of our protagonists were prolific Twitter users and it was here that many of the plot’s twists and turns were first revealed. You can still access both Paul and Kurt’s Twitter accounts to see how the action unfolded. You can also explore the Twitter stream for Lily Midas, the enigmatic ‘girl in green’ who proved to be a key player in the fate of Mahagonny.

Paul’s Twitter https://twitter.com/paulgallagher92

Kurt’s Twitter https://twitter.com/KurtTheFurey

Lily’s Twitter https://twitter.com/LilyInGreen