Ubu Roi (King Ubu) is a play written by Alfred Jarry in 1896 that is widely acknowledged as a theatrical precursor to the Absurdist, Dada and Surrealist art movements. It is the first of three plays written throughout his life to satirize European philosophies and their sometimes ludicrous practices. The two following plays were Ubu Cocu (Ubu Cuckolded) and Ubu Enchaine (Ubu Enchained), neither of which were performed in his lifetime. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Alfred Jarry Alfred Jarry (September 8, 1873 – November 1, 1907) was a French writer born in Laval, Mayenne, France, not far from the border of Brittany; he was of Breton descent on his mothers side. ... 1896 (MDCCCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... The Theatre of the Absurd or Le Théâtre de lAbsurde is a phrase used in reference to particular plays written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, as well as to the style of theatre which has evolved from their work. ... Cover of the first edition of the publication, Dada. ... Kay Sage. ...

Ubu is a nobody, fat, stupid, greedy, cowardly and evil. The play grew out of school legends about the imaginary life of a hated teacher who, according to legend, had been at one point a slave on a Turkish Galley, at another frozen in the ice in Norway, and at another point the King of Poland. While his schoolmates lost interest in the Ubu legends when they left school, Jarry continued adding to and reworking the material for the rest of his life. His plays were widely and wildly hated for their lack of respect to royalty, religion and society, their vulgarity and scatology, brutality and low comedy, and their utter lack of literary finish (Ubu Roi has a loose narrative thread, a large number of characters who appear on stage for only a short scene and its language a mash-up of high literature and slang - much of it invented - it is clearly the work of a child), but in experimental literature, these are all considered good qualities.

At the premiere, Jarry opened with a long speech, much to the boredom of the audience, and after the first word of the play ("merdre" - the French word for 'shit', with an extra R), a riot broke loose. The performance of this play was forbidden after the first night. To avoid this problem, Jarry moved the production to a puppet theatre.

Ubu Roi was later adapted into William Kentridge's "Ubu Roi and the Truth Commission" in 1996, a play that many believe criticized the South African Truth and Reconcilliation Commission, which was created in 1996 in response the atrocities committed during Apartheid.

Characters

• Papa Ubu
• Mama Ubu
• Captain Barbage
• King Wenceslas, Queen Rosemonde and their sons Boleslas, Buggerlas, and Ladislas
• Lackeys of Phynance
• Peasants
• General Laski
• Stanislas Leczinsky
• Johannes Sobiesky
• Nicholas Rensky
• Emperor Alexei
• Palotins: Giron, Pile, Cotice
• The Disembraining Machine
• The Ship's Captain, The Crew
• Michael Fedorovitch
• Nobles
• Magistrates
• Phynanciers
• Councilors
• The Whole Russian Army
• The Whole Polish Army
• Mama Ubu's Guards
• A Captain
• A Bear
• The Phynancial Horse
• Knighties
• Conspirators and Soldiers
• Crowds

External links

• David Ball's English translation of the first act, with an article about how it was translated
• Ubu Roi, available for free via Project Gutenberg in the original French

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Ubu Roi