DRAMA
SCOTCH DRAMA BURSTS BACK INTO LIFE WITH ARTURO UI
SENIOR PLAY : A SATIRICAL ALLEGORY BASED ON HITLER ’ S RISE TO POWER
In late May , the Senior Play , The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui , was performed in the Geoffrey McComas Theatre at Scotch .
Set in 1930s Chicago among a group of gangsters , this Brechtian satirical allegory based on the rise of Hitler , still has so much to reveal about the nature of tyranny and power .
Arturo Ui is a small-time gangster with a lust for power . In a city shaken by economic crisis and undermined by corruption , Ui keeps rising until he reaches the very top . When he gets there , he won ’ t be breaking the law , he ’ ll be making it .
The past two decades have seen a rise in populist modern-day strongmen and dictators being granted power across the world , and this play shows us just how easily fear and loathing win the day .
38 Great Scot Issue 162 – April 2021