I first saw a production of this play in—I think—1979 in Williamsburg, MA, a summer stock production, and I knew nothing about it. I was not at all worried at the time about the rise of fascism in this country, which was exactly Brecht’s point, that in the tradition of Sinclair Lewis’s It Can’t Happen Here, everyone smugly believed Hitler couldn’t happen here. The production was consistent with Brecht’s approach: Don’t let the audience sit back and treat this as a comfortable entertaining night out at the theatre. This “play” is for him about political realities we have faced globally many times and allowed to happen: The rise of fascism. But in this play, a darkly hilarious black comedy, we see cheap, crude and inarticulate gangster Arturo Ui not living in some “exotic” location like Germany (!) or Italy or Russia, but living in Chicago, in the 1930’s, as a Hitlerian character intent on taking over the city and country. Ridiculous little buffoon, who does he think he is?! It’s laughable that he would ever want to be president! He’s a joke!In the Williamsburg production, the set was form the outset multicolored, as one might expect a set to be, but throughout the play as gangster crimes of robbery and murder and extortion increased, painters were gradually whitewashing the set until every inch was white. The effect was visually electrifying. And to remind us that the comedy we were watching was specifically tied to the rise of Hitler’s Third Reich, placards accompanied each scene to show the parallels. Now, Hitler wasn’t a gangster, exactly. No one initially took him seriously at all, until socio-economic conditions helped him argue that it was time to Make Germany Great Again. Ui, as the proto-fascist of this drama, works hard to get popular, against all odds; he takes elocution lessons, acting lessons, and his coach helps him ape Shakespearean language and tones so that he can sweet talk his way into strong-arming the city until he corners the cauliflower market. There are terrific echoes of Richard III and Macbeth in this play.At the conclusion of the play the actor playing Ui ran down to the edge of the play, ripping off his moustache, addressing the audience directly, telling his (actual) name, told us he was an actor; hey, talk about “breaking the plane” of the understood separation between audience and stage! Precisely as Brecht would have wanted, we who saw that play went out and talked about the issues in the “play” as it pertained to the old US of A. We agreed that Brecht was decidedly not merely “play”-ing around with political realities. Wanna read the version I read? Here it is:https://waldentheatre.files.wordpress...What would it be like to see such a production, now, today, in January 2017, with a new USA President with his powerful billionaire corporate cabinet backing him?“If we could learn to look instead of gawking,We'd see the horror in the heart of farce,If only we could act instead of talking,We wouldn't always end up on our arse.This was the thing that nearly had us mastered;Don't yet rejoice in his defeat, you men!Although the world stood up and stopped the bastard,The bitch that bore him is in heat again.”--BrechtThis is what I opened my review with on 1/25/2017:The Resistible Rise of Fascism in 2017“Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it.” --Brecht1.Trump claims because he is famous he has premier access to any woman he wants; he can just grab her pussy or whatever he wants.2.Several women from his past claim sexual harassment.3.Trump denies all claims of above and commits to defund Planned Parenthood and other organizations devoted to women’s equality, at the same time claiming he “loves all women, and they love me.”4.Trump elected President (with a majority of white women voting for him, confirming for him and some others his claim in #3)5.In his Inaugural address he mentions his desire to unify the country.6.The next day 2.9 million women from around the planet protest his election, proving his claim in #5.7.Trump’s own tiny hands count more people at his Inauguration than any other one in history, and when there is widespread media pushback on this claim forces WH mouthpiece Sean Spicer to assert this as one of his increasingly prevalent “alternate facts.”8.Massive ridicule in response to such claims from the media and various women’s groups.9.Trump doubles down on his vow to defund Planned Parenthood and vows to defund organizations dedicated to the prevention of violence against women. The new Republican Senate votes 51-48 to remove discrimination protection for women in healthcare and against ACA contraceptive coverage and maternity care provision. And this is just one part of what he did in the first week!