Frank Theatre's production of Bertolt Brecht's 1941 play The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui has been selling out for the last three weekends, with no tickets currently available for their final weekend. Turns out people are hungry for a three-hour play satirizing Chicago gangsters / 1930s Germany / 21st century America. In this 2017 adaptation by Chicago playwright Bruce Norris, the comparisons to our current political situation are not subtle, as fictional gangster Arturo Ui slowly gains control over the city of Chicago through its economic, political, and judicial systems in a way that's terrifyingly familiar. Frank Theatre, and its Artistic Director Wendy Knox, are experts at interpreting Brecht, and at holding up a mirror to our present moment, and this play may be the most timely and relevant one yet.
The first and second act begin with a monologue delivered directly to the audience (by David Beukema) that tells us what to expect, and where we've been. Before each scene, one of the actors walks through with a sign summarizing what's about to happen. So there are no surprises, just a discomfiting feeling of recognition as the events play out. We watched the slow dissolution of Chicago society, as Arturo Ui gains power over all aspects of life, and people one by one succumb to his rule. Ui is a stand in for Hitler, and
there are direct corollaries between the characters, situations, and places in the play with those in Nazi Germany. But it's all told as a fun gangster story, actors dressed in zoot suits with oversized shoulder pads and fedoras, and speaking in old-timey Chicago accents. It's the spoonful of sugar that makes the medicine go down.
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| photo by Tony Nelson |
Frank is staging this in an empty studio near their space in the Ivy Building for the Arts, and make the most of it. The play is staged in one corner of the space, with audience seated on risers. The outer brick wall of the building forms one backdrop, its windows artfully boarded up, and paint-splattered tarps cover the other wall. Wooden chairs and heavy tables are moved around in different formations to represent the many different locations. The cast fully commits to the larger than life characterizations, in makeup that exaggerates every line on their face. But hiding just underneath the almost clownish tone of the play is the horror at what happened, and is happening again.
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| photo by Tony Nelson |
Highlights in the strong 13-person cast, many of whom play multiple characters, include Gary Briggle as the title character, subtly terrifying; Jim Ramlet as the city alderman Dogsborough who eventually regrets his involvement in the initial scandal; Jonathan Feld as Dogsborough's petulant son, as well as a tough gangster; Georgia Doolittle as a gangster's moll (with a hilarious scene with a Cabbage Patch Kid); and E.J. Subkoviak, a formidable presence as Ui's right-hand man.
I'd never heard of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui before this production, but truthfully most of my knowledge of Brecht is through Frank Theatre. They've been attempting to do this play for a little while, and I'm glad this production finally went through, and has been so successful. Leave it to Frank to choose exactly the right play at exactly the right time, and do it so well, with direction by Wendy Knox, set design by Joe Stanley, costume design by Andrea Gross, lighting design by Tony Stoeri, props design by Abbee Warmboe, and sound design by Owen Roth, including live piano accompaniment.
