★★★★☆
By coincidence, Dundee Rep’s community production of Brecht’s anti-fascist allegory is running at the same time as a major revival at the Donmar Warehouse. Where Brecht’s 1941 “parable play” parodied Hitler’s rise to power through the story of a small-time gangster who assumes control over the Chicago cauliflower racket in the 1930s, the London production, starring Lenny Henry, draws explicit parallels with the campaigning rhetoric and behaviour in office of the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Clearly there is something about the global political climate that makes the depiction of a seductive lout sweeping to power more germane than ever. Yet Joe Douglas’s show for the Rep is no less chilling for the director’s having declined to make specific contemporary allusions.
The play, touring small venues across Dundee and Fife, is based on the 1964 translation by George Tabori (with added polish by Alistair Beaton, the Scottish writer), which jettisons some of the more ponderous details for the dramatic essentials. There are still longueurs, particularly during the play’s second-half depiction of the annexing of the town of Cicero, but the songs, music and heightened theatrics invigorate the action.
The community hall backdrop is well suited to Brechtian minimalism and the playwright’s scorn of the fourth wall. With action performed in the round, audience members are often asked to participate in crowd scenes. The modest props stacked against the walls might just as well be leftovers from an earlier show.
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Within this rough-and-ready atmosphere, and despite the play’s messy structure, the production values are high. Ian Dow’s stark lighting creates an ambience that is part sleazy cabaret, part interrogation room. The nine-strong cast switches between an array of roles, which at times proves confusing, though there are standout turns from Irene Macdougall as Dogsborough, the corrupt mayor, and Emily Winter as Givola, Arturo Ui’s smooth, Goebbels-like spin doctor. While this is very much an ensemble effort, Brian James O’Sullivan, in the title role, as well as the show’s musical director, gives a fine, understated portrayal of Ui’s transition from upstart to iconic dictator, which provokes occasional ripples of disquiet in the hall.
Touring to June 17. Dundeerep.co.uk