An Audience with the Mafia

Synopsis

A rollercoaster ride through the history of the Mafia, from its birth in America a century ago, through Prohibition and the Mafia wars of the roaring Twenties, to the creation of modern day Las Vegas by the Mob and its subsequent influence in all avenues of contemporary American life, from business and politics to entertainment and sport. Using a backdrop of hundreds of original photographs of the period and a stunning arsenal of weapons, several notorious Mafia 'hits' are restaged by one of the world's surviving authorities on the history of the American Mafia and its influence on organised crime through the 20th Century. Meet legendary gangsters Al Capone, 'Lucky' Luciano, Meyer Lansky, 'Bugsy' Siegel, 'Dutch' Schultz - and not forgetting Murder Incorporated, the elite squad of Jewish assassins employed by the Mafia in the 1930s. In 1994 the Linguistics Division of the United Nations conducted an experiment to find the most recognisable word in the world - a word that is spelt the same, sounds the same, and has the same meaning across the globe, from Norway to Nigeria, Mongolia to Malaysia. Three universities were hired and almost 600 languages and lexicons were downloaded into a Kray Supercomputer. One word emerged - MAFIA... An Audience with the Mafia has already been staged to great acclaim across the UK and USA as well as to the Italian anti-Mafia police, the Militera Financia.

Our Review:

23 January 2008

The Apollo Theatre may never have felt so spacious. One lecturer, three television monitors and an actress fail to fill the stage, and a bemused and restless crowd certainly fail to fill the auditorium. Not so much a play, An Audience With the Mafia feels more like a book reading on the glamorised deaths and fortunes of the American criminal underclass.

A man identifying himself only as The Mercy Man leads the audience through a tawdry two-hour, step-by-step guide to who’s who and who killed who in the American mafia from its birth over a century ago to the present day. Passing through prohibition, the roaring Twenties and the building of Las Vegas, The Mercy Man delivers a well-constructed narrative - the piece’s primary saving grace - accompanied only by video images and the occasional appearance of actress Nicole Faraday dressed in a variety of wigs and gowns.

Unfortunately, The Mercy Man is not a natural performer. Clearly passionate about...

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Latest User Review

kismet - 10 February 2008:

Just got back from the show - I think it must have improved with time, as the 6 of us, aged between 18 and 85, all thought it very good. Sure, the Mercy Man is a littler querky, but in a way it adds to the realism - and Nicole Faraday's excellent contributions really do bring to life what would otherwise be more of a lecture than a performance. I don't think any of the audience left early. Well worth seeing in its last few days....

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