2007 I-Fest

Pip Utton
ADOLF BACON CHAPLIN
England

---------------------------------

Presentations:
Adolph - Oct 27 8p; Oct 28 5p, Nov 2 8p, Nov 3 5p and Nov 4 5p
Bacon - Oct 28 8p, Nov 4 8p

Tickets:
$25 adults; $18 students/thespians , additional  $5 for 2nd presentation.  773-278-1500 or info@chopintheatre.com

---------------------------------
Adolf  - Set in Hitler's underground bunker in 1945 as the party faithful are gathered to hear a final address that provides revealing insights into the mesmerizing impact of his ideological justifications and ideas.  The potent delivery by an utterly compelling idealist reveal both the logic of a madman and the manipulating magic of speech.  The audience experiences how intolerance can be exploited and used to seduce.  And then, in a startling transition to the present moment, Pip Utton's breathtaking coup de theatre leaves the audience stunned.

 

 

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"If you only see one show on the Fringe, see Adolph"- BBC Radio 17/08/98

"Reaffirms need and worth of political theater"The Scotsman 12/08/98

"Superb, truly powerful"- The Herald  

"The sting is in the tail. Hitler is alive in nineties Britain... an ever present malignancy... Unashamedly theatre with a message, with a vengeance... A tour de force." - The Stage

"One of the most successful solo shows of the last decade..... In humanising a monster Pip Utton has created a piece of mind-bending theatre." - EdinburghGuide.com 2007

“It is not often that an actor manages so brilliantly to blur the boundaries between staged performance and reality. Pip Utton can successfully do so.... Utton's Adolf should travel ... into every High School and be used as an important text in serious political, historical and social debates." - The British Theatre Guide 2007

"A must see show." - One4review.com 2007

"Utton breathes life into Hitler, realising the threat of fascism anew. This is atmospheric, emotional stuff... and a cautionary tale to boot. It caresses its way into your confidence and then chokes you on your own laughter." - The List 19/08/99

Bacon – Based on a day in the complex and destructive life of arguably the greatest British painter since Turner.  His was a life fuelled by drunkenness, gambling and a liking for a bit of rough.  “The dreadful man who paints those horrible pictures” - Margaret Thatcher on Francis Bacon.  Written by Pip Utton and Jeremy Towler, and directed by Geoff Bullen play premiered at Edinburgh Fringe 2005 to great reviews.  It also received ‘Best Play’ award at 2006 Thespis International Monodrama Festival Kiel, Germany as well as an Argus Angel at the 2007 Brighton Festival. Run time 75 min no intermission.

"Masterclasses in acting"- British Theater Guide

Compelling and unsettling" - The Scotsman

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pip Utton – “I was never an angry young man, I was a young Conservative. In the flower powered era of the 60’s my only rebellions were to smoke a pipe and like opera! But now I’m an angry middle-aged man. Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not just a grumpy old git bemoaning how out of place I’ve become in today’s world; a world that will never ever be as polite, calm and respectful as it was in those golden days not so long ago. I know those golden days never existed. And I’m angry that today’s world seems to have learnt so little
from the mistakes of yesterday’s world. Not only have we not learned from them we seem intent on repeating them! I think it was Tony Benn who said “All we learn from history is that we don’t learn from history.”

The rise of Adolf Hitler and his crusade of evil provides us with the clearest example of how people’s prejudices and fears can be exploited; it illustrates how intolerances can be exploited and manipulated to devastating effect. Writing and performing Adolf was and is my small very inadequate way of saying something, of setting out a warning to beware and to suspect the motives of those massaging our intolerances.

The play is not an easy ride for the audience. It was never intended to be” – Pip Utton, Fall 2007 Chicago

Copyrights 2008 Chopin Theatre
designed by migis studio