Written by Garai Judit based on Alfred Jarry’s Ubu plays
Ubu Roi
Here There Will Be a Kingdom (Again), Though It Was Once a Democracy
An absurd, hilariously funny, caricature-like 21st-century political panopticon featuring Papa Ubu, Mama Ubu, and La Conscience (who’s been locked in the freezer), the West and the East (who don’t always understand each other), Propaganda (who is always right, even when he isn’t), The Three Muske-tears (who are actually four), erotic Rabbits, Alfred Jarry, Bears (again!), and who knows who else, because anything can happen here, and usually does.
Of course, all of this is pure fiction. If anything in it seems familiar from reality, it is purely a coincidence, the work of imagination, or the audiences’ overactive fantasy. The characters are fictional. Any resemblance to people living today, those in power, and thus quite well-known, is truly just a coincidence.
Believe it! Or don’t. In any case: what does “Ubu” mean? Nothing. And yet everything. Let’s just say that “Ubu-ness” is rather the sum of all-pervading, grotesque character traits:
gluttony
greed
envy
pettiness
betrayal
laziness
hypocrisy
foolishness
cowardice
selfishness
cruelty
irresponsibility
SHUCKS
and the list goes on.
The original plays were translated by Zoltán Jékely and Magdolna Jákfalvi, while the Shakespeare excerpts were translated by Ádám Nádasdy.
