A comparison between 'Bazaar and Rummage' and 'The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui'
A comparison between ‘Bazaar and Rummage’ and ‘The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui’
We are currently working on the play ‘Bazaar and Rummage’ by Sue Townsend. It is set in a church hall, in the early 1980s, and is about a group of agoraphobic women who are persuaded to venture from their homes to run a jumble sale. It can be described ‘A bittersweet drama of agoraphobics trying to overcome their fear of the great outdoors, it is their smooth transition from comedy to pathos.’ The cast consists of six women, ranging from 18 to 65. The production ‘The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui’ is a menacing parable, written by Bertolt Brecht in 1941 at the height of Nazi supremacy in Europe, captures the build-up to horrors that were to be unleashed by the Third Reich in the later years of the Second World War. From Hitler’s beginnings as a political upstart, his appointment as German chancellor, the destruction of the Reichstag, the murder of Austria’s chancellor and the conquest of central Europe, Arturo Ui recreates an atmosphere that is as deeply unsettling as it is darkly comic. It was played by only three actors, this was because Brecht was more interested in actors demonstrating the role as opposed to being the role. The actors playing several roles, also meant that the audience were more distanced from any emotional connection with the piece of theatre, but in our play the audience can’t help but get involved in the actors and relate to them, as the characters experience many emotions. In our piece, the actors play the same characters throughout the piece of theatre, but develop and change in their roles. They also form relationships and unfold quite personal information about themselves as they get more intimate towards that character, their individual fears erupt but calm is restored by the ever-sensible Fliss, the trainee social worker.
