A THRILLING DARK COMEDY

Sharp, witty and hilarious, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui is a political allegory about Hitler's rise to power, here portrayed as an American mobster's improbable rise through controlling the vegetable trade. Directed by Jonathan Church and with Henry Goodman playing Arturo Ui, the critically acclaimed revival of Bertolt Brecht's play was first staged in 2012.

Brecht wrote The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui in 1941 in a startling three weeks while in exile in Finland. All the characters have real-life counterparts and every scene is based on an historical event. Brecht's intention was to demonstrate that Hitler's rise in power could and should have been prevented. The play was not staged until 1958, and not in English until 1961.

WHAT IS THE RESISTABLE RISE OF ARTURO UI ABOUT?

After the Great Depression, times are hard. In Chicago in the 1930s, Arturo Ui, the unlikely leader of a bunch of hoodlums, is attempting to control the vegetable trade with his 'Cauliflower Trust'. Despite his bandy-legs, hunched back and skittish nature, when surrounded by his henchmen, Ui gradually grows more controlling and self-assured. He succeeds in annexing the trade in Chicago and advances his power across the city and to the neighbouring town of Cicero too. Ui seems unstoppable and will stop at nothing - not even impulsive slaughtering - to secure absolute power.