On stage after every scene, a screen next to the show's cast displayed moments of infamous dictator Adolf Hitler's life to compare what the audience had just seen.
The production was last weekend at Eagles Lodge, a Card Table Theatre’s rendition of “The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, ” a story with striking similarities to Donald Trump's rise to President of the United States. Card Table Theatre's show is meant as a form of protest to the current political landscape. The original play was written by Bertolt Brecht in 1941.
The play follows a fictional, manipulative gangster named Arturo Ui in Chicago who is played by University alumnus Kitty Steffens. Ui's rise to power is portrayed as identical to Hitler’s.
The production featured an all-female cast of 11, who played a total of 45 characters Saturday and Sunday night. But, only three of the 45 characters were female.
“Arturo” began with an interactive introduction of the characters, with the narrator offering audience members drinks from a flask and whispering in ears to increase the tension. Many of the actors had to change costumes directly behind the audience.
The parable to Hitler’s rise shown as Ui throughout the show used threats, blackmail, and bribes of protection in order to take control of the Cauliflower Trust: a group of men and the grocers in both Chicago and Cicero, Illinois. Ui began as a washed up gangster who wanted to return to the life of infamy but slowly developed into a character who promised protection, and would kill those who did not accept.
Halfway through the play, those who were a part of Ui’s gang all wore red armbands as a way to identify one another.
As the show moved along, Ui was able to take control of the majority of gangsters, grocers, and press in Chicago after being perceived as no threat. From Ui committing crimes only to blame them on his opposition to betraying his second-hand man, Ernesto Roma, played by University graduate Jacqueline Grunau, “Arturo” used satirical humor in order to portray the rise of a ruthless dictator.
Before the play, Will Averill, the director, spoke to the audience about how the show was originally put on in May to joke about Trump's presidential campaign. But, he said, the recent performances were shown with a much more serious tone after Trump's election.
The dark comedy attempted to capture Trump’s image and rise to presidency throughout the show, he said. Although the play seemed to mock Trump with its dialogue, Averill said the original script was performed for the night with no alteration.
“It is all the original text,” he said. “We were constantly running into situations where we were blown away by some of the words and how resonant they were today.”
Multiple times throughout the play, Ui, in order to connect with his colleagues, said he was a “simple son of Brooklyn,” sounding eerily similar to the signature “small loan of a million dollars.” “Arturo” also showed Ui fighting with the press in order to take control, a subject very similar to Trump’s continuous battle with the media.
Ui's physical features were changed in order to project Trump’s image. Ui’s hair was almost identical to Trump’s signature style, and Averill said that it was intentionally styled that way. His lips were also pursed in order to mock Trump's image.
Averill said he meant to show the audience that, if immediate action is not taken to stop a threat, then it may end with that threat coming into and staying in control.
Audience members were receptive to the similarities to the modern day.
“It’s very timely,” Lawrence resident Catherine Reed said. “You can see how something like this can happen just by a series of steps that people aren’t too worried about at the time.”
— Edited by Casey Brown
