Mein Kampf

Overview

So there's a play called Mein Kampf. A comedy, in fact. Undoubtedly someone’s outraged already, just reading that.

Adolf Hitler's notorious manifesto certainly seems like unusual fodder for comedy, but the play has been a perennial success since its first staging in Vienna in 1987. Written by Hungarian-born Jewish playwright George Tabori, who was himself an exile from the Third Reich, it casts the young Hitler in a farcical role as a penniless and pitiful wannabe artist. While staying in a seedy hostel, young Hitler strikes up a friendship with an old Jewish man, who becomes his inspiration for everything from the title of his book to his style of moustache.

Despite the play's lasting popularity, this will be the first time it's been performed in Australia. Both a fast-moving lampoon and an exploration of the origins of evil, Mein Kampf promises to be outrageous in every sense of the word.