Post 2, Group B - Adolf how it works by Jacob Bothell

             Recently I had the amazing opportunity to work with a man named Pip Utton. He is a ‘fringe’ actor that tours around the world doing productions that involve impersonating a historical figure. When he visited Kansas City at the Metropolitan Ensemble Theater under the Central Standard Theater Company he performed three different pieces: ‘Maggie,’ ‘Bacon,’ and ‘Adolf.’ The last of these productions was not only awe inspiring and beautiful, because of his talent, but also quite terrifying.

The show opens with Pip dressed as Adolf Hitler speaking to the ‘higher ups’ of the German government telling them that the invasion of the Ally powers is imminent and they should probably go into hiding so they can continue their work elsewhere. The next portion Hitler is speaking to the ‘lay man’ of Germany informing them of the invasion and telling them that they should stick together but we understand if you cannot. Then the play takes on an odd turn; Pip takes off his costume (wig, moustache, and jacket); gets a beer from a plant, someone who he put there to perform the task, in the audience; acquires a cigarette from me; and has the tech, me, turn off the light on the Nazi banner. Aside from the audience being very confused, trying to determine if the show is over or not, they are put into a state of comfort with Pip being himself. At this point Pip begins to talk about current affairs and politics and the ‘current state of things.’ From my perspective I see the script say “IMPROMPTU” and the next line saying “Kill the Jews, kill the blacks […]” and I have no idea how he is going to get to that nor what its purpose in the production is… His point is to show that the confusion/comfort paradigm that the audience is now experiencing is much like Germany was feeling in the 1930’s and the current events/fears of the time are somewhat similar (unknown future, seemingly poor living, unhappiness with current government) and they can be bent and shaped, very easily, into the same thoughts as Hitler much to the horror of the watching audience.

I think this play is an interesting look from multiple perspectives but the one of manipulation and how can it be achieved to such extreme ends. I think a different view from the conventional of Hitler’s rise to power is in order first. It is enumerated by Graham Darby in “Hitler’s Rise and Weimar’s Demise” that the government of Germany at the time, the Weimar Republic, was not really in danger of collapse at the point of the Nazi ‘revolution’ though it was vulnerable and that the publications of the Nazis had little to do with their rise. Their rise according to Darby, and I agree with this, is that Hitler was telling people what they wanted to hear but more than that they were not a part of the Republic that the public felt had failed them on multiple occasions. And to tie this to Pip’s production he did not really do anything extraordinary, other than impromptu the shit out the performance, but he took the current thoughts and told people that he wanted to do something and he was going to do something that was NOT what was currently being done. And that seems to be the interesting way that he was able to manipulate the entire audience. And here in lies the HOROR of the situation. From the infiniteness of things that can be done about a situation an extremist must simply not be what the current course of action is…

Darby, Graham. "Hitler's Rise and Weimar's Demise." History Review, no. 67, Sept. 2010, pp. 42-48. EBSCOhost, proxy.library.umkc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=53995851&site=ehost-live&scope=site.