The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, theatre review: Lenny Henry brings a heavyweight authority

Bertolt Brecht’s satirical take on the rise of Adolf Hitler is an apt choice for 2017. The play, written in three weeks as Brecht fled the advance of Nazism, speaks to an audience anxious about the effects of the uglier sorts of populist politics.

In a new version by Bruce Norris, who’s probably best known for his provocative mini-epic Clybourne Park, its topical resonance is hammered home. Though sparks of wit are plentiful, the Trumped-up features — including talk about building a wall and making the country great again — couldn’t be described as subtle.

To take us closer to the heart of the action, the Donmar Warehouse has been turned into a speakeasy. There’s an on-set bar, the actors perform quirky versions of familiar songs (Rag’n’Bone Man one moment, Bonnie Tyler the next), and there are elements of audience participation, with director Simon Evans adopting a raw and sometimes rowdy approach.

Lenny Henry brings heavyweight authority to Arturo Ui, a Chicago mobster who exploits the frailties of his rivals as he assumes control of the local market in cauliflowers. Others have played him as a shabby loser, a furtive sewer rat or a clownish, creepy counterpart of Shakespeare’s Richard III, but Henry makes him a smug bully with an intimidating physicality and a bruising smile.

At one point he takes a lesson in deportment from an actor who instills in him a style that’s both ridiculous and imperious. It’s here that he learns his trademark salute, and the role of his flamboyant but washed-out tutor belongs to the scene-stealing Tom Edden. Punchy support comes from Giles Terera and Lucy Ellinson as two of his henchmen, crudely violent Roma and riotous Giri.

Brecht’s chilling play argues that fascism is a natural consequence of capitalism. Even if the savage bleakness of his vision doesn’t always come across in this revival, it’s skilfully performed, atmospheric, at times uproariously funny and guaranteed to make theatregoers squirm.

Until June 17, Donmar Warehouse; donmarwarehouse.com