by Alfred Jarry
directed by Francine Roussel
original score by Douglas Ovens

A riot broke out as the curtain fell on opening night of Ubu Roi in Paris in 1896; Jarry’s bizarre, subversive little play was shouted down as an ugly vulgarity and outlawed from the French stage. Since then, however, theatre historians have come to view the play as an essential work of the avant-garde theatre — an irreverent precursor to Dada, Surrealism, and the Theatre of the Absurd.

Ubu Roi parodies Shakespeare’s Macbeth with elements of Hamlet and King Lear tossed in for good measure. Originally created to mock Jarry’s terrible physics teacher, the character of Ubu eventually grew into a rotund, capricious tyrant who leads a revolution, kills the King of Poland, and gets attacked by a bear — all in the course of a couple scandalous hours. An absurd but trenchant political satire on greed and complacency, Ubu Roi continues to resonate in French society and shock audiences to this day.

For mature audiences.

Feb. 21-25, 2018
Wed, 2/21: 8 p.m.
Thur, 2/22: 8 p.m.
Fri, 2/23: 8 p.m.
Sat, 2/24: 2 & 8 p.m.
Sun, 2/25: 2 p.m.