A smile so sweet it will melt your heart, a handshake so earnest it will make you want to buy him a beer, and a stare from deep-set eyes so intense you will tremble for your children’s future: Dominik Arndt has the suave moves and terrifying looks typical of the rightwing politicians that are knocking on the gates of power all over Europe. Specifically, the lanky and youthful actor who plays Arndt, Fabian Hinrichs, looks a lot like Björn Höcke, the Thuringian politician many see as the boss in all but title behind Germany’s ascendant Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party.
But what makes Arndt so unsettling – and the play A Citizen of the People one of the more interesting theatrical contributions to the current political moment – is that he doesn’t speak like a rightwinger at all.
