I went to see yesterday's matinee at the Abbey Theatre. The play is set in 1930s Chicago, amidst the insecurity and uncertainty of the economic slump. Arturo Ui is a small time hood who sees his chance to muscle in on a fire-sale warehouse deal between a hard-up vegetable import/export firm and a local businessman. A meteoric and bloody rise to domination through corruption and protection rackets begins.
Written by Bertolt Brecht in 1941, the tale of Arturo Ui is a reflection of Adolf Hitler's earlier rise to power in fascist Germany. Set in the environs of the Chicago warehouses, courtrooms and labour meetings, the story mirrors events in Hitler's ascent such as the burning of the Reichstag and The Night of the Long Knives. Arturo Ui's sinister evolution into the dictator's mould, growing unchecked in power and bloodlust, is Brecht's message: how easily such a thing can happen, and happen again.
The play runs until the end of this week, 6th of December.
The other day I was put in mind of a good book I read last year: Then We Came to the End, by Joshua Ferris. The tale is set in a high-end Chicago advertising agency, which, in these belt-tightening times, appears to be spiralling down the swanny – and fast. Those who have worked in an office environment will recognise the nuances of the story and the variety of personalities throughout; those who have experienced said office life in a ‘creative industry’ environment will appreciate them even more. Email perils, lunch-break politics, forced conversation and niceties, distractions, gossip, corporate camaraderie, the group dynamic, the creative process and the myriad opportunities for timesheet padding. Add to these the introverted, skeptical stirrings of regret, insecurity, isolation, mental block, purposelessness, lack of self-worth…the list goes on. And if all of that wasn’t bad enough, now the firm are letting people go.
After he left college, the author worked as a copywriter for an Ad agency for three years. He was “fascinated by the behemoth structure in place – the hierarchies, the coded messages, the power struggles… such an awesome, malignant, necessary, pervasive, inscrutable place deserved a novel’s attention.” In terms of what his Then We Came to the End creative department would produce in terms of a slogan to promote his book, Ferris conceded: “They wouldn’t have a single clue. They would bemoan the assignment while being happy to have a job to bill time to. After a couple of days they’d get down to business and feel woefully inadequate to the task. Eventually something would emerge, but there would be no consensus. The book would disappear from bookstores within two weeks and the firm would go bankrupt.”
It was after discovering this brilliant website that I wanted to write a few words about this book. The site is laid out as a blueprint of the office floor. Echoes of the creatives' deepest thoughts and daydreams reverberate around the walls. The dull groan of the photocopier is just audible over the whirr of servers and other overheated hardware. There are even links to some of the characters’ MySpace pages. I never encountered a book so meticulously supported before. Maybe there are lots of other examples, but this is the first I’ve ever discovered. The teaser below, as well as the interview used above can also be found on the site.
Gomorrah exposes the breadth of Camorra gang feuds in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is a film that holds a knife to your throat and presses a gun into your back for the duration: a bleak portrait of life for those in the sprawling Neapolitan suburbs where escape from criminal rackets and the bloody reality of life is not an option. "[Director, Matteo Garrone's] film is populated by characters who neither rise nor fall, remaining instead in the same patch of dirt for generations, however many bodies pile up, or bags of heroin get sold."
The film is based on the controversial expose by Roberto Saviano, who is now under police protection in Italy following the novel's success. "As a young man, Saviano's father, a doctor, was savagely beaten by members of the Camorra for saving the life of a man they'd shot. Saviano Jr waited decades to exact an elegant revenge, but it was worth it. He infiltrated the mafia-like crime organisation and in May 2006 exposed their workings to the world." (Quotes from Ellen E Jones' Gomorrah article 'Into the Darkness')
I am a freelance graphic designer based in Dublin, Ireland and this is my ongoing, online notebook. For occasional updates and insights... do check back.
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