The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui Tickets

The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui – Very fine satire

Charlie Chaplin parodied Hitler in his famous 1940 movie The Great Dictator. And a year later in 1941, trapped in Helsinki, Finland, waiting for his American visa to come through, Brecht penned Ui’s tale in just three weeks, never suspecting it would become a classic of its time.

The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui - The story

Translated by George Tabori and revised by Alistair Beaton, the play is set in Chicago, Illinois, during the Great Depression. With people practically starving on the streets and millions unemployed, it’s the perfect Zeitgeist in which to get away with organised crime. A minor gangster boss, Ui grabs the opportunity and attempts to take over the lucrative cauliflower racket, a move that could end with him seizing absolute power.

Small fry at the start, it isn’t long before Ui’s scary shadow darkens the entire city, from bar room to market, business to docklands. Is he unstoppable?

Directed to perfection

Jonathan Church, the Artistic Director of the Chichester Festival Theatre, directs the show with the same passion and creativity as he applied to John Steinbeck’s depression classic The Grapes of Wrath and The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.

Written for the US stage, Brecht's thrilling parody of Hitler’s horrifying rise is witty in the extreme, a wonderfully sharp take on what can happen when dire social and political circumstances allow crazy people to take the lead. Well known for his complex, intellectual output, this play is one of Brecht’s easiest to digest and most accessible.

Technically an epic, in line with Brecht’s other works, the play addresses the audience direct, revealing the characters and plot up front so audiences are better able to focus on the message. And regular references to Shakespeare and other well-known writers are brought in to drive the message home even harder. It’s a clever, frightening exploration of the dangers of runaway poverty and the hopeless passivity it brings, a salutary tale for any era and just as relevant in the 2000s.

The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui theatre tickets – Top class entertainment with a twist

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