Bertolt Brecht’s political satire, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, is what its announcer calls a “gangster spectacle”. Set in the 1930s Chicago of Al Capone, Brecht presents a parody of the rise of Hitler through the character of the gangster Arturo Ui, who by extortion and violence seizes control of the local vegetable market. Brecht, who fled Nazi Germany in 1933, wrote the play in a matter of weeks in March 1941, while he and his family were in Finland awaiting visas to travel to the United States. Although he hoped to see the play produced in America, it was 18 years before it had its first stage production, in Berlin in 1959, three years after Brecht’s own death. This first production by the Berliner Ensemble theatre company that he had founded on his return to Germany in 1947, featured his widow and his daughter in the cast, as well as his son-in-law who starred as Arturo Ui. The production ran for an incredible 15 years.
As we recorded this episode a new production of the play by the Royal Shakespeare Company is playing at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, starring Mark Gatiss in a wonderfully oleaginous portrayal of the title character. The show is exuberant and funny, but also chilling, because the central message of the play feels disconcertingly topical. It is a universal cry for vigilance against the rise of unscrupulous, populist leaders who threaten democratic societies and global peace.
So, I am delighted to be joined by two guests who are eminently qualified to guide us through Brecht’s provocative parable. First is playwright Stephen Sharkey, whose translation of the text of the play is the one currently being performed by the RSC. And my second guest is Tom Kuhn, who is Emeritus Fellow in 20th century German Literature at St Hugh’s college, Oxford University, and who has written extensively about Brecht and his work.
