In the Jungle of Cities – review

Mia Austen (Jane Larry) and Jospeh Adelakun (Compere & Saxophone), In a publicity picture for In The Jungle of Cities by Bertolt Brecht

In just the same way as it is so easy to get lost in a jungle, so this early work by German playwright Bertolt Brecht has kept audiences puzzling over its shape-shifting plot ever since it was first staged in 1923.

An early performance was disrupted by Nazis throwing stink bombs, and the flux and violence of Weimar society no doubt contributed to Brecht’s ‘mythical metropolis’ vision of Chicago in this play.

The plot runs thus: George Garga works in a lending library, when one day he is visited by gangsters, led by the Chinese lumber merchant Shlink, who offers to buy his opinion on a book. The young idealist refuses, thus beginning a metaphysical fight to the death with “the yellow man”.

Joseph Arkley is all Essex boy swagger as George, who undergoes a transformation into a cruel tyrant.

“A man has many possibilities,” says his sister Mary – a statement Shlink, played with an insidious and scraping passivity by Jeffery Kissoon, sets out to disprove.

Each scene is a round of boxing, announced by a tuxedoed MC and the sound of a gong, but although damage is caused, knock-out blows are found wanting.

Director Peter Sturm’s Chicago is grimy and lurid.

The library is a single mattress with discarded pages lying scattered on the floor, while a dirty metal bath forms the centrepiece of George’s family home.

This is a world where women scribble abuse on their faces with lipstick and all relationships are defined by money and sex.

Amid such depravity, Brecht’s characters speak with a richness of language and lyricism that recalls a world of more refined sensibilities, which in turn makes their self-alienation complete.

In the Jungle of Cities is at the Arcola Theatre, 24 Ashwin St, E8 3DL, until 5 October