Drama Review
[b]The Resistable Rise Of Arturo Ui [/b]
Over dramatic gestures, talks of vegetables?!? (cauliflower to be precise). This could only mean one thing... Yhe Resistable Rise Of Artueo Ui is back! With cross casting, funny accents and more, this really is true brechtian at its best.
From the moment you take your seat you can see that this is no ordinary play. For a start all that appears on stage is a red velvet curtain, a television and a stand with a piece of white card declaring the title of the play in bold black letters.
The performance races into action with a short speech from *cant think of the name* this automatically informing the audience they are about to experiance a differnt variety if theatre.
As the play continues more and more characters are introduceed. Favourites seemed to include "The Actor", "The Old Man" and "The Ditsy Lady" All of which were cleverly played by three actors (2 female, 1 male)with the help of a puppet or two.
The main story of the play revolves around "The Cauliflower Trust" and a selection of, to be honest, rather rubbish gangsters. The cheif gangster Artueo Ui tries to buy out all parts of the cauliflowe trust and goes as far as to hire an actor to teach him how to compose himself. the finale of the play revealing him transformed into almost another person.
This is all helped along by numerous comedy moments throughout, brilliantly emphasising key moments using tableux a handful of sterotypical characters and extremely effective and entertaining "slow motion" action in such scences as the court room when two of the characters fight.
However even with the lighthearted performance the underlying *meaning* is clear. Yet it is not entirely evident until the end, when the transformation of Artueo Ui is complete. It is at this moment you see this play is not about "the cauliflower trust" or a bunch of *candid* gangsters. it is infact about Adolf Hitler and his sudden rise to leadership over 1940's Germany.
Overall it was a fantastic piece of theatre and truly brought Brechtian ideas to life. It's a definate must see performance!
10 out of 10
Over dramatic gestures, talks of vegetables?!? (cauliflower to be precise). This could only mean one thing... Yhe Resistable Rise Of Artueo Ui is back! With cross casting, funny accents and more, this really is true brechtian at its best.
From the moment you take your seat you can see that this is no ordinary play. For a start all that appears on stage is a red velvet curtain, a television and a stand with a piece of white card declaring the title of the play in bold black letters.
The performance races into action with a short speech from *cant think of the name* this automatically informing the audience they are about to experiance a differnt variety if theatre.
As the play continues more and more characters are introduceed. Favourites seemed to include "The Actor", "The Old Man" and "The Ditsy Lady" All of which were cleverly played by three actors (2 female, 1 male)with the help of a puppet or two.
The main story of the play revolves around "The Cauliflower Trust" and a selection of, to be honest, rather rubbish gangsters. The cheif gangster Artueo Ui tries to buy out all parts of the cauliflowe trust and goes as far as to hire an actor to teach him how to compose himself. the finale of the play revealing him transformed into almost another person.
This is all helped along by numerous comedy moments throughout, brilliantly emphasising key moments using tableux a handful of sterotypical characters and extremely effective and entertaining "slow motion" action in such scences as the court room when two of the characters fight.
However even with the lighthearted performance the underlying *meaning* is clear. Yet it is not entirely evident until the end, when the transformation of Artueo Ui is complete. It is at this moment you see this play is not about "the cauliflower trust" or a bunch of *candid* gangsters. it is infact about Adolf Hitler and his sudden rise to leadership over 1940's Germany.
Overall it was a fantastic piece of theatre and truly brought Brechtian ideas to life. It's a definate must see performance!
10 out of 10