Stage: We own this city

The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
by Bertolt Brecht
translated by Stephen Sharkey
director Seán Linnen
with Mark Gatiss, Mawaan Rizwan, LJ Parkinson, Kadiff Kirwan, Christopher Godwin, Joe Alessi, Janie Dee, Amanda Wilkin, Cameron Johnson, Mahesh Parmar,  Rebekah Hinds, Santino Smith, Amanda Wilkin, Valerie Antwi, Mark Hammersley, Samuel Nunes de Souza
music Placebo • sound Johnny Edwards
sets & costumes Georgia Lowe
lighting Robbie Butler • movement Jennifer Jackson
RSC Swan, Stratford-upon-Avon • 11.Apr-30.May.26 ★★★★★

Written by Bertolt Brecht in 1941 but first staged in 1958, after his death, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui is a bone-chilling parody that uses Chicago gangsters to explore how the Nazi party came to power in early 1930s Germany. Working from a razor-sharp new translation by Stephen Sharkey, this staging at the Royal Shakespeare Company's Swan Theatre reveals the relevance of Brecht's words using inventive staging, a fearless cast and Placebo's electrifying music. This shattering production wraps around us until we can't breathe, then delivers a killer punch.

Presented as a circus-like "gangster spectacle", the play becomes a carnival in which the audience is complicit in the shenanigans. Director Seán Linnen sets this out like a big top show in the round, augmented by Georgia Lowe's inventively shifting sets and jaunty period costumes. Music, lights and fierce choreography punctuate the story. And throughout the script, Brecht steps aside to list direct parallels with events tracing Hitler's consolidation of control. Of course, more present-day echoes are never far from our thoughts. "The city's sick. You need me," Arturo appeals to the working class. "And don't worry, I'll look out for you." Demanding loyalty and flattery, his methods are murder, extortion and embezzlement, all of which accelerate into a wildly rambunctious courtroom farce.

LJ Parkinson

It's fascinating to watch Arturo (Mark Gatiss) first appear as a gaunt, oily loser surrounded by people even more sketchy than himself. They strong-arm their way into the underworld, taking on Chicago's cauliflower mob at their own game, spreading lies to create confusion and mistrust before sweeping into power. Then Arturo turns his attention to neighbouring town Cicero, even while betraying his most loyal allies. As he grows in influence, his appearance becomes more refined. He works with a hammy Shakespearean actor (Christopher Godwin) to build a more masterful public persona. And his eyes become increasingly hollowed until he emerges triumphantly in blood-red military garb. Gatiss vanishes into the role, so watching Arturo's transformation from a scrappy chancer into a mesmerising rabble-rouser is riveting. His smiling villainy is often heart-stoppingly bleak, only broken in the short, sharp jab of an epilogue in which he addresses the audience out of character, leaving us shaking in our seats. 

The surrounding ensemble is packed with scene-stealers. Stand-outs are the three goons that circle around Arturo: Mahesh Parmar (stepping up as understudy for the absent Mawaan Rizwan) sets the show's cheeky, hyperactive tone as Giri, an unpredictable yes-man who collects souvenirs from his hits (echoing Göring). LJ Parkinson has an astonishingly magnetic physicality as Givola, whose colourful front as a florist conceals cruelty (see Goebbels). And Kadiff Kirwan finds surprising textures as the beefy enforcer Roma (aka Röhm). The others play multiple roles that bristle with power, rage and wrenching vulnerability.

Kirwan

While there are contemporary references scattered throughout this production (including a riotous Monty Python flourish), a more obvious connection is to Charlie Chaplin's 1940 masterpiece The Great Dictator, another Nazi pastiche with a heart-stopping sting in its tale. There's also a freak-out moment that owes a debt to Dickens. And while other recent productions have nodded more directly at current political figures (ahem!), this show minimises those for a more universal, evocative kick. This is a tale about the dangers of populist politicians who deliberately blur the truth to manipulate and control the masses. It's not actually about a specific villain; it's about human nature.

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photos by Marc Brenner • 29.Apr.26