LAST summer, it was the life of Christ in The Wakefield Mysteries. This summer, HT2, the youth wing of Harrogate Theatre, moves on to a parable of Hitler's rise to power in Bertolt Brecht's The Resistible Rise Of Arturo Ui.

"I love the play," says director Steve Ansell. "It's brilliantly written and relevant in a world of race hate, where the British National Party is just on our doorstep in Bradford."

Steve looks to do large-scale dramas for large casts, hence The Wakefield Mysteries in 2003 and Brecht's play next week, when 37 performers aged eight to 16 will bring to fruition 15 days of rehearsals and a technical week. "I'm not a fan of frothy youth theatre, I want the challenge of doing Brecht and telling a parable about Hitler is definitely challenging," he says.

Thirty of the company members were in last summer's show too. "They know my personality and I know theirs," says Steve.

In Brecht's dark, witty and savage examination of the ubiquitous nature of power, corruption and greed in politics, enigmatic gangster Arturo Ui is seemingly the only man who can offer leadership in a time of chaos and ineptitude, when poor trade and a weak currency has brought a state to the verge of collapse. It is a cautionary tale, but Steve does not want to burden his cast with the deadening thud of educational messages.

"I am not out to teach Brecht; I am out to direct Brecht; I'm loathe to approach Brecht as a theatre practitioner or as an educational piece," he says. "My focus is on the theme of the piece and the ways of putting that over in a play that's a powerful cocktail of parody, pastiche, humour and horror."

The Resistible Rise Of Arturo Ui, HT2 Youth Theatre, at Harrogate Theatre, August 19 to 21, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01423 502116.

Updated: 09:10 Friday, August 13, 2004