The Producers star Marc Antolin: ‘Sometimes making fun of fascism is the best way to deal with it’

There is no shortage of swastikas in the second act of The Producers.

Currently playing at London’s Garrick Theatre, Mel Brooks’ musical satire features: a giant Nazi Bratwurst, a chorus line of stormtroopers goose-stepping hysterically, a Sieg Heil-ing baby in a fascistically decorated pram, and an aviary of antisemitic pigeons.

To be clear, says performer Marc Antolin, fascists are the “butt of the joke”.

“It’s about laughing at fascism, laughing at these people,” says Antolin, who plays Leo Bloom, one of the two protagonists. “It goes back to that Mel Brooks quote: sometimes to make fun of these things is the best way to deal with it.”

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Leo Bloom and his producing partner Max Bialystock are determined to find the worst play ever written. If they put on a guaranteed flop, they can keep the proceeds from investors and get rich quick.

Leafing through stacks of rejected manuscripts, they strike gold: “a love letter” to the Nazis featuring the cabaret spectacular “Springtime for Hitler”. Unfortunately for them, it proves to be a bona fide hit.

A few hours before heading back onstage, Antolin spoke to Big Issue about life on the West End, the rise of the right and the importance of satire.

BIG ISSUE: What’s your average day like?

My friends say to me, ‘Oh, but you only work from like, 7.30pm to 10.30pm.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, but you spend the whole day getting ready.’ Normally, I’ll wake up around three or four o’clock in the morning and panic that my voice has gone and I won’t be able to do the show. I’ll get back to sleep after about 10 minutes of panicking.

I try not to speak too early in the morning. I’ll have my ginger shots. I’ll take all my vitamins. Then I’ll go to the gym, because there’s a lot of cardio in the show, and I have to be ready for it. I have to be careful what time that I eat, or it might come back up!

The show’s got a lot of controversial humour in it. Did you worry how that would go down?

We really did, the first time we did the show at the [Menier] Chocolate Factory. We questioned lots of things in rehearsal, and we were like, ‘Oh, will this still stand?’ But what was amazing was Mel Brooks was involved in the process. During previews, we tested a lot of it out, and I think the amazing thing about the writing and the show is that you’re laughing at the characters. A lot of the script is unchanged from the original, which is amazing. It’s always on the edge, but it’s always done with love. It feels like a precursor to South Park and Book of Mormon.

South Park recently attracted the ire of Donald Trump after it released episodes mocking him. What’s the role of a musical like The Producers during a global upswing in rightist politics?

About two weeks ago, when the far-right marches were happening in London, they were just outside our theatre. Then people were coming off the street into our theatre, and they were seeing Nazi flags in the production and laughing at fascism and right-wing characters.

It goes back to that Mel Brooks quote: sometimes to make fun of these things is the best way to deal with it. And we were slightly worried whether that might click with people. But I actually think because we’re making fun of the people that are flying these flags, it’s a good reminder that these people are stupid and their views aren’t necessarily what everyone agrees with.

Like the Nazi character in the show, has these fantasies, like these stories that he’s made up of how close he was to Hitler and how they used to dance together. He’s painting Hitler as this romantic character, and the whole audience are laughing at him.

MAGA America has emboldened right-wingers in the UK like Tommy Robinson. Mainstream politics is shifting right. Are we currently in a ‘Springtime for Hitler’?

I mean, it’s terrifying. The normalisation of violence – especially when you look at what happened in Manchester on Yom Kippur recently.

I’ve been through phases in my life where I’ve been very politically engaged and then had to distance myself, because I just get very angry at it. It is terrifying when you see the hate around at the moment. I think back to like, 2012 London, how amazing that was, and it felt like such a real celebration of the diversity of London and the UK and everyone coming here and celebrating a world event. Thinking back to how happy London was then, it’s a very different place now. It is terrifying when you see this rise of Reform and wondering where that will go.

On a lighter note, do you have a favourite moment in the show?

I love the reaction to “Springtime for Hitler”. I’m not in it, so we used to watch through the curtain. because it is so ridiculous. And I think that the one thing that has been amazing about this show is how much joy and laughter It brings to people. In this world full of sadness and hate that we’re in at the moment, it is such a tonic for people to come to the theatre for two and a half hours and laugh, almost non-stop.

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