Placebo join The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui creative team

The alternative British rock band Placebo will compose the music for our production of Bertolt Brecht’s blistering satire, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui.

This is the first major theatre collaboration for Placebo, one of the defining alternative rock bands of the past 30 years, with 14 million albums sold to date worldwide.

Since their 1996 self-titled debut album, the band have enjoyed collaborations with renowned artists including David Bowie, Robert Smith and Michael Stipe, played sold-out tours and festival headline slots, and released eight studio albums, six of which charted top ten in the UK. Their latest album, 'Never Let Me Go', went to number one in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Holland.

They will compose new music for the production. Seán Linnen directs double Olivier Award-winning actor Mark Gatiss as the 'notorious' Arturo Ui, in a new version of the play by Stephen Sharkey.

Brian Molko and Stefan Olsdal of Placebo said:
“We are very honoured and excited to be collaborating with the Royal Shakespeare Company for the first time to create the soundtrack to The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui by Bertolt Brecht. Thematically, this cautionary tale from history feels more urgent and prescient than ever, and its relevance to today’s world is very chilling.

"The creative process for this project was very different for us, sometimes akin to shooting arrows in the dark. So we tried to connect with the psychology of the outsider, as well as taking inspiration from themes of power, alienation and moral decay – which are at the core of this play.

"We are elated by the thought that Placebo’s newest music will be performed nightly at the Swan Theatre and we can only hope that we have done this great play justice.”

Alternative rock band Placebo will compose the music for the RSC's production of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
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Director of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Seán Linnen added:
"Placebo are one of the most daring, original and imaginative rock bands in history so it is unbelievably thrilling they’ve come on board to write a brand-new soundtrack for our production. Music is an essential part of Brecht’s plays and having Brian and Stefan’s glitteringly expansive, darkly seductive and deeply theatrical score played live on stage in the Swan Theatre each night is going to be completely exhilarating for our audiences."

The simmering streets of Chicago come to the Swan stage in the first-ever RSC production of Bertolt Brecht's 1941 'gangster spectacle'. The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui will play from Saturday 11 April – Saturday 30 May, and the full cast and creative team will be announced soon.

The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui

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