'An annotated student edition of one of Brecht''s most famous plays and a classic of modern literature/theatre. Described by Brecht as ''a gangster play that would recall certain events familiar to us all'', Arturo Ui is a witty and savage satire of the rise of Hitler -- recast by Brecht into a small-time Chicago gangster''s takeover of the city''s greengrocery trade. Using a wide range of parody and pastiche -- from Al Capone to Shakespeare''s Richard III and Goethe''s Faust -- Brecht''s compelling parable continues to have relevance wherever totalitarianism appears today. Written during the Second World War in 1941, the play was one of the Berliner Ensemble''s most outstanding box-office successes in 1959, and has continued to attract a succession of major actors, including Leonard Rossiter, Christopher Plummer, Antony Sher and Al Pacino. ''One of the greatest poets and dramatists of our century'' Observer'