Review – The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Royal Shakespeare Company at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, 21st April 2026

Posted on April 22, 2026 by therealchrisparkle

©Marc Brenner

Bertolt Brecht’s scathing satire on the rise of Hitler, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui was originally written in 1941, with an expected first production to take place in the United States. However, it was considered too politically sensitive for a producer to risk, and the play didn’t receive its premiere until 1958, two years after Brecht’s death, when it was produced in Stuttgart. The play remained relatively unknown in the UK until Leonard Rossiter played the role in 1967.

©Marc Brenner

Brecht’s Ui is seen as a small-time Chicago gangster, engineering a takeover of the city’s greengrocery trade by conning and terrorising the members of the Cauliflower Trust. Ui’s ambitions know no bounds, and before long he’s manipulating all of Chicago, and eventually has his target on the neighbouring city of Cicero – and probably beyond. In Stephen Sharkey’s new translation, not only is the resemblance of Ui to Hitler unmistakable, both in Mark Gatiss’ extraordinary physical characterisation and in his modus operandi, but an account of Hitler’s rise to power is told, factually and emotionlessly, by cast members as each scene concludes. Each of Brecht’s original fifteen scenes represents a true event in the rise of Nazi Germany between 1929 and 1938; and, much as Orwell did with Animal Farm, Brecht’s characters can easily be identified with their German Nazi originals. Ui is Hitler, Giri is Goering, Givola is Goebbels, Dogsborough Hindenburg, and so on.

©Marc Brenner

As there are now relatively few people who can remember the Second World War, let alone Germany in the 1930s, it’s worthwhile doing a history lesson to appreciate just how clever a satire Brecht’s play is. And in these perilous times, where far right populism is gaining a foothold all over the world – including here in the UK – Brecht’s salutary tale, or, in his words, parable play, feels more appropriate than ever. The last words of the text warn the audience: the bitch that bore him is in heat again. Nothing if not perspicacious, Brecht.

©Marc Brenner

Stephen Sharkey’s smart new translation keeps all the original characterisations and storylines, wisely avoiding a desire to update them, and maintains Brecht’s delicious balance between poetry and prose. The production also achieves the near-impossible task of preserving all Brecht’s trademark distancing effects, whilst still making the play flow naturally; aided in this by Georgia Lowe’s excellent and effective set. Having an LED banner on stage, proudly describing the show as part of the RSC’s current season from the start, instantly sets the tone of artificial theatricality and is the perfect backdrop for Mawaan Rizwan’s delightfully subversive opening introduction.

©Marc Brenner

Robbie Butler’s lighting design also enhances the theatricality, perhaps at its most audacious during the extended crowd massacre scene which then transforms magically into a floral display at Givola’s flower shop. Georgia Lowe’s costumes also help to define the characters, from the sharp-suited members of the Cauliflower Trust, Dockdaisy’s outrageous flamenco dress, Giri’s clown outfit, and of course Ui, who transforms slowly from a down-at-heel wretch in worn out clothes, to a functioning but tasteless suit and eventually to full Nazi uniform and regalia. Richie Hart’s four-piece band deliver Placebo’s music with style and expression, emphasising both the unease and the horror of what unfolds on stage.

©Marc Brenner

The cast are tremendous throughout. With only three of the actors taking on just one role, there is much doubling-up which emphasises the wide scope of the play whilst still keeping the storytelling crisp and clear. Kadiff Kirwan proves his incredible versatility, having been a suave and nifty Sky Masterson in Sheffield’s Guys and Dolls a few years ago, with a powerful and aggressive performance as Ui’s friend (does he really have friends?) Roma. L J Parkinson gives a great performance as the devious Givola, providing a subtly ruthless and unsettling presence on stage.

©Marc Brenner

The wonderful Janie Dee particularly excels in her portrayal of Betty Dullfeet, being the perfect “first lady” of Cicero who thinks she can hold her own against Ui but is duped and ends up with his emblem on her armband. You want to shout out Where’s Your Self-Respect! at her as she accepts her fate, and by implication the annexation of Austria. Mawaan Rizwan is hugely entertaining throughout as both the Barker and the slippery Giri, eerily collecting the hats of all the people he’s murdered, making the audience laugh at those things that we really shouldn’t find funny.

©Marc Brenner

The always reliable Christopher Godwin impresses as Dogsborough, caught up in his own corruption and regretting his actions when it’s too late – and provides a hilarious cameo as the pompous actor, teaching Ui how to sit, walk and present himself. Rebekah Hinds is also hilarious as the extravagant, back-chatting Dockdaisy, Amanda Wilkin gives a very convincing performance as Clark, Joe Alessi is the assertive Butcher and suspicious Dullfeet, and Mahesh Parmar gives us a delightfully childish Dogsborough’s son. But the entire cast and ensemble all turn in performances of great commitment and flair.

©Marc Brenner

It is, however, Mark Gatiss who dominates proceedings with his remarkable performance as Arturo Ui; a sinister, slimy, heartless, calculating portrayal of pure evil that rises from the mire and rules by fear and a warped charisma. Never played for comic effect, as it easily could be, perhaps his most gut-wrenching moment is when seducing Betty into believing him he licks her face – you could feel the audience shudder as one. It’s never an impersonation of Hitler, but Gatiss somehow merges himself with Hitler and Ui into one horribly believable and convincing villain. It’s a performance no one will forget in a hurry.

©Marc Brenner

85 years since it was written, Brecht’s extraordinary play continues to demonstrate the ease with which a society can fall under the spell of the evillest of minds. Ui walks among us. We can see him emerging; indeed, we may even already know his identity. It isn’t too late to resist, although one day it may be, which is the message of the production. Indeed, the production begs us, empowers us and orders us to resist – and it’s vital that we do. A superlative production, and one that is a privilege to have witnessed, it continues at Stratford’s Swan Theatre until 30^th May.

Five Alive, Let Theatre Thrive!

Review – Cowbois, Royal Shakespeare Company at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, 24th October 2023

Posted on October 25, 2023 by therealchrisparkle

You could almost taste the anticipatory buzz in the foyers at Stratford yesterday for the press night for Cowbois – Charlie Josephine’s rollicking queer Western, as the RSC has it. I’m not sure what John Wayne would make of it, but the first night audience loved it. Not unlike untitled f*ck m*ss s**gon play currently at the Young Vic, it’s exhilarating to see an established, familiar genre of entertainment – whether it be musicals set in South-East Asia, or Westerns set in the Wild West – turned on their heads so you can see them from a different perspective. And Cowbois certainly does that.

The plot could be taken from any Western story. The women of this obscure little town have been left behind by their men, out hunting gold. It’s been a year or more, they’ve not heard from them; they’re probably dead. All the women have to sustain them is their faith, their school teaching, their running the saloon, and a drunken sheriff. There’s a bounty on the head of one Jack Cannon, one half of the Cannon brothers, the slickest gunslingers in the West. The other half, Harry, is now dead and buried at the hands of Tommy, leader of Tommy’s Toothless Boys, whom Harry hired to hold up stagecoaches so that he and Jack could relieve them of $200,000 worth of gold coins. But Jack, being one of those slickest gunslingers, took out seven of the Toothless Boys – by which I mean shot them, not wined and dined them – and now everyone is seeking both revenge and cash. So when Jack wanders into town, the women are unsurprisingly all a-quiver. I hope you’re keeping up here.

However, it doesn’t matter if you don’t grasp the plot – that really isn’t what the play is about. Never has that old saying to assume makes an ass out of u and me proved more appropriate. In the first act of the play, Charlie Josephine creates an environment where apparently cis straight women feel safe to give way to their inner selves; by falling in love with a trans man, or by starting to trans to a man themselves. Even the sheriff allows a new aspect of his personality to come to the fore. There is a beautiful, life-affirming moment when the Kid – farmer Mary’s son – meets someone he has always known as a woman but is now dressed as a man and with a male identity, and merely says “oh, ok” in complete unprejudiced acceptance. It gets a massive roar of approval and applause from the audience. Everyone is comfortable with their new outlook or identity – what could possibly go wrong?

What goes wrong is the return of their husbands in the second act. They’re still alive, against all odds, and when they turn up at the saloon to find a queer party going on, it’s no surprise that they’re taken aback. Seeking to return to the relationships they left, their only options are to either dominate and cow the women back to their previous suppressed lives, or to accept the new order. Jack quickly absents themself from the situation – again no surprise. But how is all this going to get resolved, and what happens when bandit Charley Parkhurst arrives, also looking for Jack, and Tommy and the Toothless Boys also show up? In the words of Harry Hill, there’s only one way to resolve this – fight!

The set-up, dialogue and unpredictable plot development in the first act are all outstanding. Charlie Josephine has created terrific characters, well-drawn, full of their own funny idiosyncrasies, and beautifully reflecting the staleness of lonely life in the town. There’s absolutely no reason, for example, why the conversations about the way Miss Lillian eats her breakfast grits should be so funny – but it is. And when Jack Cannon arrives on the scene, all eyes are upon them as – in my humble opinion – they are one of the most charismatic and spellbinding characters to appear on a stage for a very long time.

The one downfall of the play is that the second act cannot live up to the high expectations set by the first. Primarily, Jack is absent for much of the act and the audience really misses them. And sadly, I can’t help but feel the writer missed a trick by making all the men either violent bullies or plain thick. Their toxic masculinity comes across as a blunt tool when all the other characters have such nuance. Whilst the wives all go on substantial personal journeys, the men remain static; what a hoot it would have been to have had a Brokeback Mountain moment in there too. But I guess that was not a priority for the writer – after all, it has been done before. But the trans element of Cowbois is what sets this play apart from pretty much any other play I’ve come across – and that’s a superb achievement.

Grace Smart has designed an elegant, simple set, with the saloon bar towards the back of the stage, and a nicely hidden sunken bath towards the front, of which Jack and Lillian will – shall we say – take advantage. The costumes are excellent throughout; she has given Jack a few suitably eye-catching outfits, and the sheriff’s second act hat is a work of amazing millinery civil engineering. There’s some entertaining semi-country music from the small band of four musicians nestling stage right; and co-directors Charlie Josephine and Sean Holmes make maximum use of the theatre’s non-stage spaces for the shootout climax – even if it does go on a bit too long.

Vinnie Heaven’s performance as Jack is a marvel. Cheeky, charismatic, and hugely likeable – not bad going for someone who’s only recently killed seven men. No wonder all the townswomen go weak at the knees. From the moment Jack arrives on stage you know that they’re in charge. But they’re not just a brash Lord Flashheart type, their performance is subtle, charming, brimming with both confidence and vulnerability. A terrific performance. Sophie Melville is also excellent as Miss Lillian, saloon landlady and Jack’s new love. As with most of the female roles, she particularly shines in the first act, with comic authority and conviction. I loved her double act with Emma Pallant’s deeply religious Sally Ann, disapproving of everything from sexual attraction to shooting to save your life. There’s a stonkingly fun performance from LJ Parkinson as nonbinary bandit Charley Parkhurst, cavorting around the stage with dangerous devilment. Lee Braithwaite’s transformation from Lucy to Lou is touchingly done, and, in our performance last night, the surprisingly mature and endearing Alastair Ngwenya smashed it as the Kid, as young people would say.

Quentin Letts won’t like it, but if you suspect you might, I reckon you’ll love it. It’s not perfect, but then it’s about people, and people aren’t perfect. Recommended!

Production photos by Henri T

Four They’re Jolly Good Fellows!