RSC Casts Star-Studded Brecht Production
The Royal Shakespeare Company announced full casting for its new production of Bertolt Brecht's *The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui*. Mark Gatiss will star, with Mawaan Rizwa and Janie Dee joining the cast at the RSC's Swan Theatre for this political satire.
Bertolt Brecht wrote the play in just three weeks in 1941 while in exile in Finland, awaiting a visa to the United States. A fierce critic of the Nazi regime, Brecht had fled Germany in 1933 and penned the play as a direct response to the rise of fascism in his homeland. The play is a sharp satirical allegory, transposing the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party onto the criminal underworld of 1930s Chicago. The titular mob boss, Arturo Ui, schemes to control the city's cauliflower trade, with each step of his ascent mirroring a specific event from Hitler's seizure of power. Characters in the play have direct historical counterparts. The aging politician Dogsborough represents President Hindenburg, while Ui's henchmen Giri, Givola, and Roma are stand-ins for Hermann Göring, Joseph Goebbels, and Ernst Röhm, respectively. Even the infamous Reichstag fire is paralleled in the play as a warehouse fire. This production marks the first time *The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui* has ever been staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company. It is directed by Seán Linnen, making his RSC debut, and uses a new version of the text by Stephen Sharkey with a score composed by the rock band Placebo. Mark Gatiss, a double Olivier Award winner known for his work in *The League of Gentlemen* and as the co-creator of the BBC series *Sherlock*, is also making his RSC debut in the title role. He has previously won an Olivier for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for *Three Days in the Country* at the National Theatre. BAFTA award-winning actor and comedian Mawaan Rizwan, acclaimed for his BBC series *Juice*, will also make his RSC debut as the violent gang member Giri. Rizwan's writing credits include the Netflix series *Sex Education*, which landed him on Forbes' 30 under 30 list. Veteran stage actress Janie Dee has won three of the most prestigious awards in British theatre: the Olivier Award, the Evening Standard Award, and the Critics' Circle Award. She has previously performed with the RSC in *The Shakespeare Revue* and has numerous Olivier nominations to her name, including for her role in *Follies* at the National Theatre.
