The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui

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The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
Directed by Jonathan Berry, Brecht's epic ensemble piece recounts Hitler's rise to power through the story of a gangster's attempt to take over the Cauliflower Trade in 1930's Chicago.

Chicago gangsters, political corruption, scare tactics and extortion in the vegetable business parallel the players and maneuvers involved in the Nazi's ascent to power in the years leading up to the Second World War. Arturo Ui's manipulation of terror and apathy for political gain undoubtedly will continue Steep's tradition of bringing stories to the stage that strike a chord with the "everyperson".

Featuring ensemble members Jonathan Edwards, Alex Gillmor, Brendan Melanson, Peter Moore, Jim Poole, and Julia Siple with Sean Bolger, Ariel Brenner, Steve Gensler, Yosh Hayashi, Shole Milos, Paul Myers, Josh Odor, Eddie Paul, and Jon Stutzman

MAY 31 thru JULY 7
Thursdays - Saturdays @ 8 PM

Brecht's 'Rise' red-hot on Steep storefront stage

SunTimes review:

June 6, 2007

BY HEDY WEISS Theater Critic

What better metaphor could there be for the thugs who rose to power in Nazi Germany than the mobsters who ruled Chicago in the 1920s? And who could appear more ridiculous (though deadly dangerous) than a ruthless, pathetic little Chicago criminal engaged in ever-escalating terror -- a man with an intriguing resemblance to Shakespeare's misshapen Richard III?

This, as it happens, is the essential premise of Bertolt Brecht's 1941 play, "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui," now receiving one of those red-hot, astonishingly accomplished storefront productions for which Chicago is famous. Steep Theatre's large-scale, small-stage take on the play is sensational. And gifted director Jonathan Berry, whose recent hits include "Dead End" and "The Piano Tuner," once again demonstrates his flair for animating period pieces, shaping large ensembles and orchestrating dialogue as if it were musical notation.

Arturo Ui (Yosh Hayashi, ideal as the twisted goose-stepper) is a vicious, cold-blooded runt hungry for power. Down on his luck, he hatches a plan to corner the city's cauliflower market, demand big-time protection money from the vegetable vendors and strong-arm a squeaky-clean official to front for him.

Ui's brutal tactics work, just as Hitler's did, and his rise is never successfully resisted.

Paul Myers, Josh Odor, Jonathan Edwards, Peter Moore, Sean Bolger and Ariel Brenner are standouts in an altogether flawless cast -- one supported at every turn by the design team.

hweiss@suntimes.com - ARTICLE found here

'THE RESISTIBLE RISE OF ARTURO UI'

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
When: Through July 7
Where: Steep Theatre, 3902 N. Sheridan
Tickets: $18
Phone: (312) 458-0722

Steep is more than up to the challenges of 'Ui'

ON THE FRINGE:



By Kerry Reid
Special to the Tribune

June 8, 2007



Bertolt Brecht's 1941 gangster allegory "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui" could be the theatrical equivalent of Godwin's Law, that Internet-age maxim decreeing that whoever brings up a Hitler analogy in an online discussion loses the argument. Al Capone was a murderous thug, but he was driven by greed, not an overarching ideology based on racial "purity" and world domination.

Jonathan Berry's cunning staging of "Arturo Ui" for Steep Theatre Company neatly avoids the awkward problems of the analogy -- and the limitations of the storefront space -- by de-emphasizing the usual elements of Brecht's "epic" theater in favor of a smart, fast-moving, hard-boiled burlesque. The result is the most cohesive and satisfying show I've seen from this company to date, and it features a dazzling, sit-up-and-take-notice performance from Yosh Hayashi in the title role, who is first among equals in a stellar ensemble. Steep specializes in large-cast productions, with many actors playing multiple roles, and every performance here is in exquisite sync with the tone of the production.

George Tabori's bold translation incorporates Shakespearean blank verse, emphasizing the play's debt to "Richard III." The hunch-shouldered Hayashi slithers through his den of thieves, murderers and extortionists like a malevolent apostrophe, eliminating anyone who gets in the way of his plans to take over the Chicago "cauliflower trust" and to annex Cicero (read: Austria). Scratchy voice-overs make the connection between the onstage events and critical turning points in the rise of Hitler, such as the burning of the Reichstag and the assassination of Dollfus, the Austrian chancellor. (In one of the more pointed R III references, Hayashi's Ui pitches woo to the widow of "Dullfeet" over the casket of her murdered husband.) The funniest scene, in which a disheveled and drunken thespian (Jim Poole) teaches the near-feral Ui how to walk with authority and address the crowd, grows chilling as the dictator-in-waiting begins to ape the mannerisms of Hitler -- though having Ui appear with the famous Hitler 'stache at the end might be hammering the point home a bit too hard.

But one doesn't need to know every historical parallel to grasp Brecht's essential point -- would-be dictators are petty narcissistic criminals who should be greeted with mass derision rather than fear. Heather Gilbert and Jessica Harpenau's stark lighting design incorporates several work lights hanging from cords around the perimeters. One wishes that someone on stage would grab a light, shove it into the face of Hayashi's addled "mastermind" and say "Here. Is this what you're so afraid of?" Their failure to do so is what gives Brecht's imperfect but engaging parable its relevance, made crystal-clear in this not-to-be-missed production.

On-line article can be found here.

4 Star Time Out Review

****

June 7 - 13 Issue

A flashlight shines on each Chicago gangster’s face, among them Arturo Ui (Hayashi), a laughably dense but ruthless mobster-monster looking to ascend in evil’s ranks. Director Berry likewise shines a piercing light on Brecht’s gripping allegory of Hitler’s rise to power. If Brechtian has become one of those eponymous terms that, in their overuse, have less meaning than cachet, whatever it signifies—highlighting theatrical artifice, thus alienating not to distance but to provoke—Berry gets it and gets it across. With mobsters speaking the stylized, rhyming language, Ui is engagingly disorienting—a disorientation compounded by a design (set: Brandon Wardell; lighting: Heather Gilbert, Jessica Harpenau) that evokes at once a specific time, no time and any time. While the complicated plot confuses (and weirdly absents Hitler’s anti-Semitism), Berry makes crystal clear the trajectory of evil rising.

Among a strong ensemble, Hayashi is exceptional; “Buy me a judge,” his weaselly Ui squawks, “or else I got no rights.” With Hayashi’s twisted frame manifesting Ui’s twisted soul, he enlists a pompous old actor to teach him to walk and talk power. The ensuing high jinks, as Ui adopts grotesque gestures broadly exaggerating Hitler’s, elicit our laughter. After Ui takes over the cauliflower trust by offering “protection” to grocers who fail to resist his resistible rise, those same gestures, now eerily realistic, elicit our astonishment. In the second act, Berry’s staging markedly loses force and focus, but the final image, slamming tight the Ui-Hitler link, isn’t a light in the face, but a slap.—Novid Parsi

On-line article found here.

Dueling Critics: On Public Radio WBEZ

Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui is on stage now at Steep Theatre in Lakeview, and here to tell us if we should resist Arturo or not are our Dueling Critics Jonathan Abarbanel and Kelly Kleiman.
Link to Listen to the Podcast!

First aired on WBEZ 91.5 FM 6/08/07 Dueling Critics is a segment of Eight Forty-Eight, an award-winning magazine format hosted by Steve Edwards.