The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui - Donmar

Thanks, Abby. Uncomfortable chairs doesn't sound good...numb bumb!

I didn't see Othello but I thought he was great in Comedy of Errors at the NT. 

I didn't think there was any stand out acting in this, but equally nothing I would criticise. LH was absolutely fine. 

I don't want to alarm you but a section of the circle does get called into action at one point... 

Oh lord......I'm front side circle next week!

I happen to adore audience participation and am gutted that my front row circle seat for this Monday seems to involve only a little of it. (Should any forumers happen to have a A-C stalls ticket and a horror of audience participation I'd be happy to swap and pay the difference - wouldn't have to be for Monday. Otherwise I might phone and see if there's any chance of picking up an extra stalls seat.)

Lynette I will promise to be a fully participating audience member if you'll do the reverse and give them a Lynette stare and decline.

Oeer! The same day as me and Peggs are due to go...we are at matinee...no longer in the front row, taking your seats Lynette, but up in the 3rd row of the circle! Are you matinee too?!  

So near and yet so far! Sadly have to rush home and see patient long suffering husband....can't answer for Peggs...she is deciding whether to come or not...I am sure you would have swung it Lynette! One day...one day! 

I thought this was loads of fun, the audience participation and the Donald trump references being the raison d'etre of the production.

Some spoilers follow. . .

Yes, this is not as good as the 5 star Henry Goodman production, which was superlative in every way, but mostly for the growth in Goodman's Ui/Hitler over the course of the play from a kind of cuddly Mickey Mouse mumbling caricature to an utterly frightening monster.

Here Lenny Henry's Ui is a thug from start to finish, so the whole thing is a lot less surprising and scary, nor does it have an equivalent coup de theatre at the end, which capped the Goodman show by suddenly producing Nazi-redolent symbols everywhere.

What this show does have is oodles of goodwill, where the super-friendly actors use excellent judgement about which audience members they dare invite into the performance. I generally hate audience participation, but Lucy Ellinson was utterly open and lovely, at the beginning, about asking me to raise my hand, and cheer for her words during the show, and she didn't molest anyone who looked closed off to it.

Generally I was shielded from the fear of sitting in the front row of the stalls, my band B side stalls seat having been moved round to the back of the stage, with a row of chairs in front of me, to create an in-the-round show, in which everybody feels involved. The wooden chairs at the back are a lot less comfortable than the usual pews though. There were tables there with appropriately Brechtian Dogsborough cafe "menus," which helpfully contained an explanation of which scenes correlated to which historical events, and which play characters were which historical characters. Ellinson was Giri who was Goring.

Anyway, Lenny Henry's sheer height and bulk lend him great gangster gravitas, and he, and all the actors had great fun with their roles, skilfully juggling between playing cod gangsters and being themselves talking to us. My favourite performers were Ellinson as Giri, Giles Terrera as Rohm, Justine Mitchell as many characters, who all excelled effortlessly at this duality, and I loved Michael Pennington as Dogsborough, the soul of the show, the one person who seemed truly frail and vulnerable, lending the show a poignancy that it otherwise lacked.

The Trump references came thick and fast, from his "I have great words," to his border wall plan, and Henry pulled it all off wonderfully. While it may be obvious, I think it's all worth saying again and again, as the lies Trump tells will never stop either.

What this production loses in being frightening, it gains in being friendly.

4 stars

Nothing wrong with this. It's good fun, at times is good theatre and for anyone afraid of participation, literally the entire audience is on your side, just have a go.

The front row circle seats are very restricted in my opinion as the new gallery safety rail/shelf is very thick and severely restricts the view unless you lean forward the whole time as most of my row did yesterday.

This production really wasn't for me. I had many issues with it. Lenny Henry has made a very successful career as a comedian and however he "acts" you cannot get past the fact it is Lenny Henry. Not helped by the decision to get him up to the circle to address the audience before the start of the show to appeal for their help with the audience participation later. Although this was done in costume as Arturo Ui he was very Lenny Henry in cajoling and politely persuading the audience to engage. This may have been Brechtian?

Also the play is advertised as Arturo Ui by Brecht in a new adaptation by Bruce Norris, I would have said it is a new play based on Brecht - it is hardly a translation. Donald Trump is an easy target - beyond parody really. A huge amount of bad language especially in the first 15 minutes or so which I felt to be totally unnecessary and gratuitous. I am no prude. Several people did walk out from the circle!

I felt the whole production was very like watching a college end of term show with everyone "acting" and showing off, something students might put on at the Edinburgh Fringe thinking it was very daring.

Perhaps after seeing Richard Wilson in 40 Years on in Chichester recently I was a grumpy old man and not in the mood....and of course don't get me started on the audience participation.

I was front row of the circle and the shelf wasn't a problem at all. But I agree with wickedgrin about the production. And I feel bad for saying that, because everyone worked so, so hard. The Donmar tweeted proudly yesterday about people refusing to side with Ui at the end, but that's all a muddle and pretty meaningless - we had an actor telling us to stand up not to show support for Ui or because we'd be kneecapped if we didn't, but because the show would go on and on if we didn't, which was highly persuasive. It didn't have the shock and awe of the Goodman production, and the phenomenal line at the end about the bitch being on heat again had gone. Entertaining, but swamped with shenanigans.