The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui

The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui

The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (original German title: Der aufhaltsame Aufstieg des Arturo Ui) is a play by the German dramatist Bertolt Brecht, originally written in 1941. It chronicles the rise of Arturo Ui, a fictional 1930s Chicago mobster, and his attempts to control the cauliflower racket by ruthlessly disposing of the opposition.

Contents

Background

It was written by Brecht in only three weeks in 1941 whilst in exile in Helsinki, Finland awaiting a visa to enter the US. The play was not produced on the stage until as late as 1958, and not until 1961 in English. In spite of this, Brecht never envisioned a version of the play in Germany, intending it for the American stage all along.

The play is consciously a highly satirical allegory of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany, whose rise Brecht represented in parallel to that of Ui. All the characters and groups in the play had direct counterparts in real life, with Ui representing Hitler, his henchman Ernesto Roma representing Ernst Röhm, Dogsborough representing Paul von Hindenburg (a pun on the German Hund and Burg), Emanuele Giri representing Hermann Göring, the Cauliflower Trust representing the Prussian Junkers, the fate of the town of Cicero standing for the Anschluss in Austria and so on. In addition, every scene in the play is based on a real event, for example the warehouse fire which represented the fire at the Reichstag, or the Dock Aid Scandal which represented the Osthilfeskandal (East Aid) scandal. The play is similar to the film The Great Dictator (1940), which also featured an absurd parody of Hitler by Charlie Chaplin.

Dramatically it is in keeping with Brecht's Epic style of theatre. It opens with a prologue written in the form of a direct address to the audience outlining all the major characters and explaining the basis of the upcoming plot, allowing the audience to better focus on the message than the suspense of what may happen next. It also describes in its stage directions the prominence that technical aspects of theatre should play in a production, most notably in the use of signs or projections appearing after certain scenes which present the audience with relevant information about Hitler's own rise to power, in order to clarify the parallels. The play also uses frequent references to Shakespeare and other writers to further its didactic messages. To highlight his evil and villainous rise to power, Ui is compared to Shakespeare's Richard III and Macbeth in both the introductory prologue and in scene 14 when he experiences similar visitations from the ghosts of his victims as Richard and Macbeth do; while Hitler's own learned prowess at public speaking is referenced by Ui receiving lessons from an actor which include him reciting Mark Antony's famous speech from Julius Caesar.

Productions

The part of Arturo Ui has been played by a number of notable actors including Al Pacino, Darryl Low, Leonard Rossiter, Antony Sher, Nicol Williamson, Griff Rhys Jones and Peter Falk. Simon Callow discusses his interpretation of the role in his autobiography, Being an Actor.

A celebrated German production of the play, directed by Heiner Müller has run in repertory at the Berliner Ensemble in Berlin since June 1995, with Martin Wuttke in the title role.

Influences

Lines from the play are quoted at the end of Cross of Iron, a 1977 drama war film directed by Sam Peckinpah:

Do not rejoice in his defeat, you men. For though the world has stood up and stopped the bastard, the bitch that bore him is in heat again.[1]

Herrick, a fictional character from BBC Three's Being Human, quotes the play's epilogue during his final soliloquy:

The world was almost won by such an ape! The nations put him where his kind belong. But do not rejoice too soon at your escape — The womb he crawled from is still going strong.

Characters

The different places cited in the text:

See also

References

  1. ^ Bertolt Brecht – The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. source Blockbuster Online - Cross of Iron

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • The Flight across the Ocean — (Der Ozeanflug) is a Lehrstück by the German dramatist Bertolt Brecht, inspired by We, Charles Lindbergh s 1927 account of his transatlantic flight. Written for the Baden Baden Music Festival, it was originally entitled Lindbergh s Flight (Der… …   Wikipedia

  • The Days of the Commune — is a play by the twentieth century German dramatist Bertolt Brecht. It dramatises the rise and fall of the Paris Commune in 1871. The play is an adaptation of the 1937 play The Defeat by the Norwegian poet and dramatist Nordahl Grieg.[1] Brecht s …   Wikipedia

  • The Mother (play) — The Mother (German: Die Mutter) is a play by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. It is based on Maxim Gorky’s 1906 novel of the same name. It was written in collaboration with Hanns Eisler, Slatan Dudow and Günter Weisenborn from… …   Wikipedia

  • The Caucasian Chalk Circle — Written by Bertolt Brecht Date premiered 1948 Place premiered Carleton College, Minnesota, USA Original language …   Wikipedia

  • The Good Person of Szechwan — (German: Der gute Mensch von Sezuan, first translated less literally as The Good Woman of Szechwan)[1] is a play written by the German theatre practitioner Bertolt Brecht, in collaboration with Margarete Steffin and Ruth Berlau.[2] The play was… …   Wikipedia

  • Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny — Mahagonny redirects here. For the Mahagonny Songspiel, see Mahagonny Songspiel. Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny) is a political satirical opera composed by Kurt Weill to a German libretto by Bertolt… …   Wikipedia

  • The Threepenny Opera — For the 1931 film, see The Threepenny Opera (1931 film). For the 1990 film, see Mack the Knife (film). The Threepenny Opera Original German poster from Berlin, 1928. Music Kurt Weill …   Wikipedia

  • The Seven Deadly Sins (ballet chanté) — This article is about Weill, Brecht and Balanchine s ballet. For other uses, see Seven deadly sins (disambiguation). The Seven Deadly Sins (German: Die sieben Todsünden,[1] French: Les sept péchés capitaux) is a satirical ballet chanté ( sung… …   Wikipedia

  • The Decision — This article is about a play by Bertolt Brecht. For the Animorphs book, see The Decision (Animorphs). For the LeBron James free agency decision, see The Decision (LeBron James). The Decision Written by Bertolt Brecht Date premiered 10 December… …   Wikipedia

  • The King's School, Chester — Infobox UK school name = The King s School, Chester size = 300px latitude = longitude = dms = motto = Rex dedit, benedicat Deus ( The King gave it, may God bless it ) motto pl = established = 1541 approx = closed = c approx = type = Independent… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”