Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Toronto, ON — the red light district™ is back, with a darkly funny and dynamic staging of one of Bertolt Brecht's best-known and most incisive texts, newly translated by Canada's own Jennifer Wise. Fresh out of the inaugural cohort of York University and Canadian Stage's MFA Program in Stage Direction, artistic director Ted Witzel returns to the red light district™ with THE RESISTIBLE RISE OF ARTURO UI (presented in association with Karfiol Kollektiv), featuring an ensemble of athletic and multi-talented young performers, and playing in one of Toronto's best-loved underground venues. Witzel is no stranger to Brecht's work and practice, having apprenticed under his granddaughter, Johanna Schall, for several years in Germany. THE RESISTIBLE RISE OF ARTURO UI will play at The Great Hall Black Box (1087 Queen St. W.), November 21-December 7.
Written in 1941 while Brecht was fleeing Nazi Germany, the play satirizes the rise of Hitler in the figure of one Arturo Ui, a gangster from the Bronx who comes to Chicago set on dominating the city's vegetable trade by any means necessary. With all Chicago hit hard by the Great Depression, it doesn't take long for up to uncover a corruption scandal behind the city's recent bailout of the cauliflower industry, and through a carefully-executed publicity campaign (and more than a few murders), he climbs his way from the city's brothels to its boardrooms, and beyond.
Jennifer Wise’s fast-paced new translation draws heavily from the tradition of the American gangster films that were a fertile source of inspiration for Brecht, one to which he frequently returned. "Not only is slang-ridden 1930s American English the natural idiom for these mobsters, but Brecht wrote the play with the intention of having it performed in the U.S.," writes Wise. "This presented me with the bizarre problem that the target language (English) happens to be a more expressive vehicle for the characters than the one they were given by their creator (German)."
Though the play originally parodied Hitler’s rise, Wetzel’s staging encourages the audience to look beyond the Nazi parallels to our own political playing field, where the combination of an economic crisis, a corruption scandal, and a carefully-executed PR strategy have produced one of the most autocratic regimes the nation has yet seen.
"Obviously it's considered more than a little bit taboo to compare politicians to Nazis these days, and understandably so," says Witzel, "but so many of these political factions are playing out of the same playbook—create fear in a populace and you'll find them willing to sacrifice freedom for safety. There’s a kind of security in thinking that Hitler rose to power because he terrorized a nation into submission, but that isn't entirely the case—he was elected by a landslide. I wouldn't go so far as to accuse our present government of the kind of outright murder that existed in fascist Europe, but it think it is useful to consider the kind of factors that drive a population to choose criminals and bullies to lead them."
The set, designed by Scott Spidell (who also designs the show's lighting and video projections), is covered with newspaper as a constant reminder of the media's influence over rapid twists and reversals in public opinion. Costumes by Amanda Wong and Michelle Tracey bring to vivid life the stylish and sexy world of gangsters and businessmen in the 1930s. The basement venue at the great hall completes the aesthetic, with exposed brick and pipes complementing the show's dingy and seedy design.
Originally developed as a graduating-year project for york university's 4th-year acting class last year, UI features a raw and energetic cast of some of Toronto’s most exciting young actors, including a breakneck portrayal of Arturo Ui by Daniela Pagliarello, and an ensemble of 14 actors who play over 60 characters between them. The class reunited to form the Karfiol Kollektiv as a means of working together beyond graduation. "This is one of the strongest classes of actors York has graduated in recent memory," said York acting instructor Melee Hutton. "This production is a terrific showcase for their range and skill. I have no doubt that we'll be seeing many of them on Toronto’s larger stages very soon."
THE RESISTIBLE RISE OF ARTURO UI plays at The Great Hall Black Box (1087 Queen St. W.), November 21-December 7. Performances run Wednesday through Saturday at 8pm with 2pm matinees on November 30 and December 7. The show runs approximately 2 hours with a 15-minute intermission. Tickets ($25 regular, $20 students/artsworkers) are available online or at the door. For details visit http://www.theredlightdistrict.ca.
facebook: theatreredlight
twitter: @theatreredlight
twitter hashtag: #resistui
THE RESISTIBLE RISE OF ARTURO UI
Plays November 21 to December 7; Opening and Media Night: November 22
THE RESISTIBLE RISE OF ARTURO UI is a red light district™ production in association with Karfiol Kollektiv, sponsored by Steamwhistle, NOW magazine, and the York University Department of Theatre.
The story:
MURDER! EXTORTION! TYRANNY AND THEFT!
Chicago in the 1930s. Something is rotten in the cauliflower industry. A financial crisis and a corruption scandal allow the city’s most notorious gangster to use brute force and intimidation to manhandle his way to the top of the city’s vegetable racket, leaving behind him a trail of corpses.
Brecht’s parable play about the rise of Hitler and the people who elected him was written in exile in Finland in 1941, in the early years of the second world war, with no end to the Nazi terror in sight. Fast paced, funny, and Shakespearean in scope, ARTURO UI is about the politicians who play dirty and the people who let them.
about the red light district:
the red light district is an independent toronto-based theatrical conspiracy that propagates contemporary reworkings of (mostly) classical texts. since our inception in 2006, we have been producing work in toronto’s streets, bars, hotels, art galleries, parks, sex clubs, and even theatres, making theatre for people who don’t like theatre.
we aim to create works that ask difficult questions without offering reductive answers and that exploit the medium of live performance to the fullest, breaking down traditional notions of what theatre should be, asking instead what theatre could be.
marked by stylish design and athletic performance, the red light district’s productions explode at the intersection of the private with the public; the point at which the political becomes personal.
—and we do this in theatre because theatre isn’t serious, and therefore is the best place to ask serious questions.
2013-11-15
Toronto: the red light district presents "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui" November 22-December 7