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.

For information, ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY >

photos by Marc Brenner • 29.Apr.26

Critical Week: Hang in there

I've taken it a bit easier this week, film-wise, only watching three movies. Charlize Theron faces off against a villainous Taron Egerton in Apex, a properly ripping guilty-pleasure wilderness survival thriller that Netflix really should have released in cinemas. And then there were two films starring Anne Hathaway: she reteams with Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci in the 20-years-later sequel The Devil Wears Prada 2, which is entertaining even if it's let down by an inconsistent script. And she also stars alongside Michaela Coel in David Lowery's offbeat two-hander Mother Mary, which looks and sounds amazing but kind of loses us with an overly blurred narrative. 

BEST OUT THIS WEEK:
The Last One for the Road
Departures • Wild Foxes
ALL REVIEWS >

I also ventured out of London for the first time this year, taking the train a few hours north to Stratford-upon-Avon for a live performance of Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui at the RSC's Swan Theatre, starring Mark Gatiss. Set in 1930s gangland Chicago, it's a shattering parody of Hitler's rise to power, staged and performed in a way that feels unusually engulfing.

Coming up this next week, I'll be watching the animated adventure Swapped, Leo Woodall in Tuner, Karl Urban in the sequel Mortal Kombat II, the British drama Ish, the Billie Eilish concert doc Hit Me Hard and Soft and two live performances: Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo at Sadler's Wells and Bullyache's A Good Man is Hard to Find at Sadler's Wells East.

Requisite Blog Photo: Enjoying the sunshine

31st Flare: Make an opening move

The 31st edition of the British Film Institute's Flare: London LGBT Film Festival kicked off on Thursday night with the world premiere of the BBC drama Against the Law, produced to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act. It's a powerfully cinematic movie that deserves to be seen on the big screen, as it includes documentary clips of men who lived through the events depicted from the 1950s, starring Richard Gadd and Daniel Mays (above).

Against the Law
dir Fergus O'Brien; with Daniel Mays, Richard Gadd 17/UK **** (world premiere)
An inventive blending of period drama and talking head documentary, this pointed film is beautifully edited to make the most of both strands. Each feeds into the other with a powerful sense of momentum, giving the final scenes a proper emotional kick. And there's also a sense of timeliness, as the story recounts events from 60 years ago that would change British law about homosexuality a decade later. And the events still resonate loudly today.

After Louie
dir Vincent Gagliostro; with Alan Cumming, Zachary Booth 17/US ***. (world premiere)
Big ideas circle around this earthy drama set among New York artists. The characters are bright and engaging, even as they are deeply flawed, and the talky script takes an unexpectedly honest approach to hot potato topics, exploring how nostalgia for the gay rights movement of the 1990s might not be the healthiest way to move forward. It's perhaps too deliberately provocative to be properly moving, but Alan Cumming delivers a beautifully complex central performance.

Taekwondo
dir-scr Marco Berger; with Gabriel Epstein, Lucas Papa 16/Arg ***. 
Essentially a mash-up of writer-director Marco Berger's Hawaii and producer-codirector Martin Farina's Fulboy, this film places nine athletic young men in an isolated house for a sweltering summer getaway and observes the physicality between them. There's a hint of a plot between two of the guys, and a few traits emerge here and there, but the movie is basically a tactile, tantalising tease that pays off only in the final moments... FULL REVIEW >

B E S T   O F   T H E   Y E A R

Moonlight
dir-scr Barry Jenkins; with Trevante Rhodes, Andre Holland 16/US ****.
With its intimate approach and deeply resonant themes, this film gets under the skin right from the start, putting us in the shoes of the lead character at three points in his life. His journey to self-discovery is difficult, partly because he is painfully withdrawn due to his tough life experiences. And what this movie has to say is so important that it deserves all the the attention and awards it gets... FULL REVIEW >

It's Only the End of the World
dir-scr Xavier Dolan; with Gaspard Ulliel, Vincent Cassel 16/Can *****
Few filmmakers are as bold as 27-year-old Canadian Xavier Dolan, who regularly takes on family relationships using bravura filmmaking that brings out unexpected, unfiltered emotions. This film, based on a play by Jean-Luc Lagarce, is a staggering dissection of the dynamic between parents, children and siblings. It's heightened to the point that it's often painful to watch, but it's also urgent, honest and essential... FULL REVIEW >