23:00, Wed 17th – Sat 20th January 2007 at ADC Theatre
Lent Week 0

The times are bad in Chicago. Arturo Ui, a small-time gangster with big-time ambition, is on the prowl. His prey? Vegetables. Cauliflowers, to be exact. The moral bastion of the city is bribed, the witnesses are silenced, one way or another, and the moral line blurred - this isn't just about eating your greens.

Brecht wrote The Resistible Rise in 1941 as a parable of Adolf Hitler's rise to power; Ui (Hitler) is joined by a company of hardened gangsters, including a florist (Givola/Goebbels) and 'super-clown' (Giri/Goring). A down-and-out actor gives Ui lessons in public speaking. Chopin's Funeral March plays in dance time. Slapstick is fused with hard-hitting political comment. The stage is heaped with corpses, and Chicago's cauliflower is covered in blood.

In an explosive and slick production, this important text will be given a new lease of life. Think a silent movie of Alice in Wonderland. The company will create a flower shop, a coffin and a court room using nothing but their bare hands (and a dozen umbrellas).