An updated version of The Beggar's Opera by John Gay, it focuses on a corrupt world inhabited by rakish mobsters and their double crossing gangs, raffish madams and their dissolute whores, panhandlers and street people as they conduct their dirty business, ply their trade, and struggle to survive in brothels, shanty towns, and prisons.
Its rakish title character, Lord Ruthven, is an unflattering depiction of her ex-lover, Lord Byron.
In 2008 he composed an electro-acoustic piece entitled “Rakish” based on the music of travelling piper Johnny Doran which was premiered at the William Kennedy Piping Festival in Armagh.
A typical spiv has been described as having: A duck's arse haircut, Clark Gable moustache, rakish trilby hat, drape-shape jacket,, and loud garish tie ... which all represented a deliberate snook cocked at wartime austerity.