Bertolt Brecht’s 1941 parable play/farce about the dangers of complacency and appeasement is, as is said much too frequently today, as timely as ever. It’s a shame eight U.S. Senators haven’t had a chance to see it.

It’s the second show in the first full season for Petaluma’s Mercury Theater, the newest theatrical kid on the North Bay block, and it demonstrates the company’s growth, and a few of its growing pains.

Arturo Ui (Kevin Bordi) is a middling Chicago gangster who doesn’t get the respect he feels he deserves, particulary from those in positions of power in business and government, many of whom are just as crooked. Those interests think Ui can be useful in their latest bit of graft, so he’s brought into their circle. In no time, Ui is in and they are out… or down, as in six feet down.

He sees expansion as his next move. Will the people go along to get along?

Director Keith Baker has a strong group at work here, led by Bordi, who I hope is having his blood pressure checked daily, such is the intensity with which he delivers Ui. Ally Bray also delivers in some key supporting roles. The usually reliable John Browning, Matt Cadigan, Mercedes Murphy, Zane Walters, and Be! Wilson were.

Norman Hall was Norman Hall. (That’s a good thing.)

Eileen Morris, in a very different role for her, struggled a bit with her spirit-gummed moustache, but otherwise did fine as an older pol. Juliana Eiras was quite effective in the role of a wounded woman, but tough to understand (vocally) in the role of a judge.

Baker (also the set designer) made very effective use of the space, and the expansive use of projections (by Chuck Starzenski) brought a lot of color to the stage and made the space feel larger than it is. But might I suggest using spell check before producing the images?

The Sunday matinee I attended ran close to three hours (including intermission), which was made to feel longer by the fact that I had an audience member use my shoulder as a pillow for the last hour of the first act. Seriously. The first act does run long and is sometimes a challenge to follow, so she might have been saving her energy for the much more robust second act. She only nodded off a couple of times then.

I spend a lot of time these days wondering, with the current state of the world and our country in particular, if theatre really matters. Are we just preaching to the choir?

Maybe, maybe not. But The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui is one helluva sermon.

‘The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui’ runs through November 16 at the old Cinnabar Theater, 3333 Petaluma Blvd N, Petaluma. Fri-Sat, 7:30pm; Sun, 2pm. $20 – $35. 707.658.9019. mercurytheater.org.

Photos by Mike Thompson