Theater review / “Never again!”, the message of Arturo Ui

Last Sunday’s note was devoted to Brecht’s theater and especially to his theory of the effect of estrangement or distancing, which has given rise to so many problems of interpretation: that the actor must keep a “distance” from the role, as if narrating it as third, with his critical function always on the alert. To participate only in the importance that sufferings take with mercy and with fear through imitation. But whose imitation? Not the everyday one, which conveys the ethos and style of the heroes “naturally”, but another one, which we have to construct.

The above has created among scholars the opinion that Brecht is “anti-Aristotelian” and that “this is how” it should be played. But again, the problem is not solved as long as this “so” remains practically unproducible.

The fault is not Brecht’s, but the scholastic Western culture, which misread Aristotle’s “Poetics”, especially the definition of tragedy, according to which tragedy is an imitation of an act great and perfect, possessing magnitude (duration in time) (…) which with mercy and with fear passes, that is, completes in meaning the purification (the end) of such (pitiful and terrible) sufferings. In other words, we see purification being relegated to a mere technical term, giving space to “intimate pleasure”, i.e. the pleasure and teaching appropriate to each theatrical genre which the drama conveys to the viewer according to Aristotle and also according to Brecht. This is where the issue of Brecht’s “anti-Aristotelianism” comes to an end.

I’m coming to both shows this year. Starting with “The Rise of Arturo Ui” at the Arc Theater, in a performance-dramatization, which does not betray the work, by Elena Triantafyllopoulou and the director Aris Biniaris. It is Brecht’s well-known parable about the rise to power of Hitler and the Nazi party in Germany in 1933 and, at the same time, a scathing denunciation of the bourgeois regime, the Weimar Republic, which encouraged this disastrous development.

The direction of Aris Biniaris (movement and choreography by the talented Hara Kotsalis) captures the play in its right dimensions, a black comedy that sounds like a “mourning vertical march” (Kostas Karyotakis) of a suicidal era which has not yet ended, with the ” snake’s eggs’ to hatch again.

The performance is based on the cinematic motif of a “circus of terror”, with stormy rhythms and an analogous style, emphasizing the grotesque element in particular. The political message thus comes out completely clear: Never again!

The roles have been learned and performed correctly, “alienated” and “distanced” creatively, with the necessary controlled extroversion, by a group of brilliant actors: The explosive Alexia Sapranidou as Doc Daisy, the wild and velvety harbor girl at the same time. We enjoyed the expressive and essential Maria Parasiri in her two roles. Giorgos Chrysostomou, perfect and convincing as Arturo Ui -clown- Hitler. Phoebus Symeonides chillingly “real” as Givola-Goebbels. Giannis Anastasakis, authentic in the role of the inept and fatal Dogsbury-President Hindenburg who handed over power to the murderers. Michalis Valasoglou as Ernesto Roma, a half-mad, pedophile, murderer and corruptor, former leader of the SS. The momentary Thanasis Isidorou in his two roles, especially the one accused of the Reichstag fire set by the Nazis. The capable David Maltese in his two complementary roles, accuser and butcher (Butcher). The good Aris Kasapidis (Goodwill, Hook) and Tasso Korko (Giri). Kostas Koroneos in his two successful roles (Clark and actor). Errikos Miliaris in five roles! With the beautiful musical composition and orchestration of Alexandros Ktistakis. With the significant scenery-costumes of Pari Mexis, the “talking” lighting of Stella Kaltsou, the echoing sounds of Haris Kremmidas.

But I will have to continue next Sunday with the other Brechtian performance, that of Theater Group 2510 in Exarchia, “Two Sons”, and with the “Brechtically” directed play by Andreas Zafeiris, “There are no more children left in Gaza”.