Ubu roi

Alfred Jarry’s Ubu roi is a cornerstone of avant-garde theatre, a grotesque and provocative farce that shattered theatrical conventions. The play introduces Père Ubu, a vulgar, gluttonous, and cowardly figure who, spurred on by his wife, murders the King of Poland to seize the throne. What follows is a reign of absurd and bloody tyranny, a savage satire of political power, human greed, and stupidity. From its scandalous 1896 premiere, which famously began with the word “Merdre!” (“Shittr!”), the play has been a landmark of theatrical rebellion. As a precursor to both Surrealism and the Theatre of the Absurd, Ubu roi remains a shockingly relevant and wildly entertaining critique of ambition run amok. Presented in French.