What's On

By Bertolt Brecht

Translated by George Tabori and Revised by Alistair Beaton

Meet Arturo. Gangster? Businessman? Politician? Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference. He’s a song and dance man, as in he’ll sing you a song while he twerks on your grave. The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, a play written in 1941 by Bertolt Brecht as an allegory for the rise of Hitler, explodes onto the Hayman Theatre stage in a pop culture frenzy of violence and lip-syncing.

When selecting this play director Leah Mercer said, “I was struck by how the story of a gangster taking over the world seemed so current. The idea that a violent and unscrupulous man could manipulate everyone around him to elevate himself above them all just never seems to go out of fashion. People might think of Brecht as heavy and political, and while it’s true that he wanted to make his audience think about what was going on in the world, he was also prepared to use every theatrical device he could to keep them entertained. He thought theatre should be like a boxing match and that the audience should take sides.” To explore how men like Arturo Ui still get away with murder, Mercer challenged her cast to “create bold characters in a present-day, morally-bankrupt, media-saturated world.”

In Hayman Theatre’s very limited season of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui audiences can expect memorable characters, pop culture references galore, lots of laughs and a world that jump cuts between scenes of raw emotion, violent action and over-the-top surrealism.

Welcome to Brecht for a meme generation! Resistance is futile. Or is it? #faketheatre

Director: Leah Mercer

Cast: Tim Lorian, Malek Domkoc, Alex Comstock, T Mutta Beilby, Jasmine Valentini, Christian Dichiera, Nelson Fannon, Sebastian Boyd, Calum Christie, Kyra Belford-Thomas, Clodagh Berryman, Kailea Porter, Emily Bell, Thomas Bach, Bryan Chin, Jack Blumer & Sacha Emeljanow. 

Set Design: Chloe Pallister & Cameron Norton | Costume Design: Kiri Siva |Sound Design: John Coughlin

A/V Design: John Congear | Choreography: Jade Woodhouse