About the Play:

Bertolt Brecht's brilliant parable The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui is a play, which recasts Hitler's rise to power in terms of a small-time takeover of Chicago's greengrocery trade.

Bertolt Brecht referred to The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui as his "gangster play." Written in a matter of three weeks in 1941 during Brecht's exile in Finland, it takes place in his favorite U.S. setting, Chicago, and satirizes Hitler's rise to power in terms of a small-time takeover of the greengrocery trade in that mythic city. A brilliant parable, it is at once a trenchant retelling of the past and a serious warning — that fascism did not pass with the defeat of Hitler — for the future.

Commissioned and authorized by the Brecht estate, this definitive edition of The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui contains a translation by John Willett and an introduction by the joint editors of Brecht's collected works in English, John Willett and Ralph Manheim. The appendix provides Bertolt Brecht's own notes and relevant texts as well as extensive editorial commentary on the genesis of the play.

What people say:

"A wild and grotesque sort of clown show, with everything seen through a distorting mirror.... An ideal vehicle for a director who knows how to shoot the work in his staging." — The New York Post

About the Playwright:

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director. One of the most influential playwrights of the 20th century, he left Germany in 1933 when Hitler came to power. He lived in the United States for seven years, settling with his family in Santa Monica and New York and continuing to work on plays and films. After the war he returned to Germany, where he founded the Berliner Ensemble. He is best known for his classic plays The Threepenny Opera, The Life of Galileo, Mother Courage and Her Children, and The Caucasian Chalk Circle as well as many others.