Acclaimed Iranian playwright, theater director and actor Amir Dezhakam, 54, is preparing to stage Brecht’s ‘The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui’ at Hafez Hall in Tehran.
The satirical play by German poet, playwright and theater director Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) is slated for early spring. Its original title in German is ‘Der Aufhaltsame Aufstieg des Arturo Ui.’
Presently, Dezhakam is rehearsing the play with Mahan theater group which he heads, Mehr News Agency reported.
“The play is about financial corruption, dealing with bribery, embezzlement, fraudulent loans and fake projects. It is a satirical allegory, showing how Hitler and Al Capone rose to power,” Dezhakam said.
“I hope by April 4, I will be able to stage the play,” after the Norouz (Persian New Year) holidays, he said.
His earlier plays include ‘Nosrat Khanum’ (2011) and ‘Mother Courage and Her Children,’ staged last March.
The thespians of Mahan theater group with whom he is working include Amir Karbalaizadeh, Bahram Ebrahimi, Tinou Salehi, Narges Mohammadi, Hamid Fallahi, Maliheh Kia and Shohreh Ra’ayati.
Mojgan Eyvazi is the costume designer for the show, Mira Mirmiri is in charge of music, and Mostafa Koushki will design the décor, Dezhakam added.
The play was written in 1941, but not performed until 1958, two years after the demise of Brecht at the age of 58.
“It is a satirical parable that dramatizes the rise of Hitler, taking place in the 1930’s Chicago with mobsters that parallel the Nazis,” said American theater and concert critic Darryl Reilly in an introduction to the play published on the website of Theater Scene (theaterscene.net).
The Hitler figure is Arturo Ui, a thug who connives his way to the top of the corrupt vegetable industry. There are also allusions to Al Capone, Shakespeare’s ‘Richard III’ and ‘Macbeth,’ as well as Goethe’s ‘Faust’.
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