PLACEBO & THE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY JOIN FORCES FOR THE RESISTIBLE RISE OF ARTURO UI
- PLACEBO TO COMPOSE NEW MUSIC FOR LANDMARK STAGE PLAY SATIRISING HITLER’S ASCENT TO POWER IN THEIR FIRST MAJOR THEATRE COLLABORATION TO DATE
- STARRING DOUBLE OLIVIER AWARD-WINNING ACTOR MARK GATISS IN THE RESISTIBLE RISE OF ARTURO UI; BASED ON THE 1941 ‘GANGSTER SPECTACLE’ BY BERTOLT BRECHT IN A NEW VERSION BY STEPHEN SHARKEY
- PREMIERING IN THE SWAN THEATRE, STRATFORD-UPON-AVON FROM SATURDAY 11 APRIL – SATURDAY 30 MAY 2026 WITH PRESS NIGHT ON TUESDAY 21 APRIL
DOWNLOAD IMAGES HERE
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) has today announced that alternative British rock band, Placebo will compose the music for its 2026 production of Bertolt Brecht’s The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, starring double Olivier award-winning actor Mark Gatiss in the title role of the notorious gangster and small-time crook, with big boss ambitions.
Directed by Seán Linnen, in a new version by Stephen Sharkey, Brecht’s riotous ‘gangster spectacle’ – set in the back alleys of Chicago’s criminal underworld - offers a blistering satire on Hitler’s ascent to power and a chilling warning from history which continues to echo down the centuries.
The announcement marks Placebo’s first major theatre collaboration to date and takes place in the year in which the band celebrate the 30th anniversary of their seminal, self-titled debut album "Placebo,".
Placebo are one of the defining alternative rock bands of the past 30 years, with 14 million albums sold to date worldwide. The band’s self-titled debut album helped pave the way for a strong shift in British music, acting as an antithesis to Britpop and inspiring a generation of bands to follow them. Placebo went on to claim their place in British music history with six top ten albums in the UK, collaborating with music legends including David Bowie, Robert Smith and Michael Stipe. The group played sold out tours and festival headline slots across the globe.
Placebo have released 8 studio albums and most recently their latest album ‘Never Let Me Go’ went to no.1 in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Holland.
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui will play in the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, from Saturday 11 April – Saturday 30 May, with press night on Tuesday 21 April, marking another historic first for the Company, as the only staging of the play in the RSC’s history.
Brian Molko and Stefan Olsdal of Placebo said: “We are very honoured & 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 & 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.”
Director 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 of Bertolt Brecht’s The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui this Spring. 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.
As the threat from the far-right grows daily at home and abroad, it is our job as artists to speak up and out. There is no other play that interrogates the political moment we are living through more than this one, and I'm so lucky to have such fearless and formidable collaborators as Brian Molko, Stefan Olsdal and Mark Gatiss in bringing this production to life.'
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'This city’s sick. You need me. Arturo Ui'
A small-time crook with big boss ambitions.
While the Great Depression inflicts hardship across the nation, Chicago’s underworld festers with sex, scandal, violence and corruption. It’s the perfect storm for a schemer like Ui, his reputation as hot as hell.
Feeding on fear, Ui and his ruthless cronies make back-alley deals to protect the workers. So far, so bad. But his helpless targets watch on as Ui's influence gains dangerous momentum and his venom threatens to seep through the markets, politics and the law to seize the city – and beyond. This is a man on a mission for power. Will anyone stop him?
ENDS
For further enquiries, please contact: Kate Evans 07920 244 434, email: kate.evans@rsc.org.uk
X: @TheRSC
Instagram: @thersc
Royal Shakespeare Company incorporated under Royal Charter. Registered charity No. 212481
LISTINGS INFORMATION:
THE RESISTIBLE RISE OF ARTURO UI
By Bertolt Brecht
Updated by Stephen Sharkey
Swan Theatre
11 Apr – 30 May
Tickets from £15
New Work at the RSC is generously supported by Hawthornden Foundation and The Drue and H.J. Heinz II Charitable Trust
The RSC Acting Companies are generously supported by The Gatsby Charitable Foundation
With thanks to Season Supporter Charles Holloway OBE
Notes to Editors:
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a leading global theatre company that sparks local, national and international conversations that build connections, create opportunities and bring joy. We passionately believe that great storytelling can change the world, and that theatre offers its own unique form of storytelling: it’s live and shared, and transforms a group of strangers into audiences who, together, experience a story come to life in front of their eyes.
We collaborate with the most exciting artists to tell the stories of our time, and through a range of programmes we nurture the talent of the future.
We perform on three stages in our home in Stratford-upon-Avon, in London and in communities and schools across the country and around the world.
Our transformative Creative Learning and Engagement programmes reach over half a million young people each year.
About Placebo: In 1996, as the UK was saturated with Britpop, Placebo were a psycho-sexual freakshow of ambiguous sexuality (and, to the casual observer, gender). They were only two years on from their debut gig (the Rock Garden, January 1995) and 12 months after their first single (Bruise Pristine) when they released the career defining Nancy Boy and achieved platinum status with their critically acclaimed eponymous debut album.
Two years on from their debut, and at a time when stadium lad rock ruled, Placebo were a lone beacon of narcotic glamour – hanging out with Bowie – and making cameos in the Todd Haynes-directed movie Velvet Goldmine. Placebo’s darkly seductive second album Without You I’m Nothing sold over a million copies. The album included the Top 5 single Pure Morning and the iconic Every You Every Me. The album campaign culminated in Placebo playing ‘20th Century Boy’ live with David Bowie at the BRIT Awards show in 1999.
In 2000 the triumphant Blondie-flecked electro punk pop of third album Black Market Music was released. The devout Placebo faithful were legion on all continents and took Taste In Men, Slave To The Wage and the controversial, drug referencing Special K, in to the Top 20 in the UK and internationally.
Placebo’s fourth album Sleeping With Ghosts, released in 2003, would go on to achieve double Platinum status in France, Platinum in Germany and Gold in the UK. It charted in the Top 10 in sixteen countries, spurred on by the album’s massive first single The Bitter End. This was followed with another breakthrough moment with a sold out Bercy show in Paris playing to 18,000 people in November 2003. The show was filmed and released as their first official live DVD, Soulmates Never Die (Live in Paris) and went on to become Virgin Records biggest selling live rock DVD of 2004.
Meds, Placebo’s fifth album, followed in 2006 and would go on to sell over 1.1 million copies worldwide and achieve both Platinum status in Germany and France and Gold status in UK. The biggest headline moment of the bands career came that year, as they headlined Rock Am Ring in Germany, and confirmed the bands status as a regular Global festival headliner. Another landmark in France were two sold out nights at Paris’ Bercy, playing to over 36,000 people.
Recorded over three months with producer Dave Bottrill, Placebo’s sixth studio album Battle For The Sun was released in June 2009. The record was a startling, alive, vital and boundary-vaulting record that marked a whole new era for the band. They hit the No. 1 spot for 2 weeks on the European Billboard Chart, notched up No.1 chart positions in 10 countries and a Top 5 in a further 20. At the MTV European Music Awards 2009 they picked up the Best Alternative Award, solidifying their position as one of the premier live rock bands in the world.
Loud Like Love, was the band’s seventh studio album, produced by Adam Noble, in 2013 and saw the band continuously tour the world, playing to over 1 million people across Australia, Latin America, North America, Europe and Asia, including a ten-date tour of Russia which was documented and spawned the documentary, Alt Russia, which picked up 5 Film Festival awards.
Placebo released their eighth studio album ‘Never Let Me Go’ in 2022 to much critical acclaim. It went to no.1 in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Holland and included the single ‘Beautiful James’ which was a huge radio hit in France. Concluding this campaign the band released their documentary film ‘This Search For Meaning’ directed by BAFTA award winning director Oscar Sansom in 2025.
