Ubu Roi Essay

Ubu Roi is an Avant-Garde theatre play containing elements of dadaism and surrealism written by Alfred Jarry. Avant-Garde theatre is difficult to define, but it is similar to experimental theater and introduces new and unusual ideas. The performance opened and closed on the same day in 1896.
Plot: The play begins with Papa Ubu, his wife Mama Ubu, and Bordure discussing a murder plot to kill King Wenceslas of Poland because Papa and Mama Ubu desire to have reign over Poland. In the second Act, Ubu and his men surround the king and murder him. The Queen manages to escape to a cave with her son Bourgelas, but the Queen falls ill and dies. After her death, Bourgelas is visited by all of his deceased ancestors who tell him to seek revenge on who
killed his father. Back at the palace, Papa Ubu is the new King and is throwing gold out to a large group of people who end up trampling each other. In Act III, Papa Ubu is ordering executions so he can take over more and more property for himself. Captain Bordure teams up with Emperor Alexis and Bourgelas and challenges Papa Ubu to a war. Meanwhile, Mama Ubu is trying to find treasure at the crypt of the ancient kings of Poland. Bourgelas arrives and advances into battle leaving Mama Ubu with no choice but to grab as much treasure as she can and escape. Four days later, she discovers Papa Ubu sleeping in a cave, who was attacked by a bear a few days earlier. Mama Ubu pretends to be a spirit and hopes that Papa Ubu will confess his faults and ask for forgiveness. Instead, Papa Ubu turns against Mama Ubu and throws the dead bear on top of her and attempts to kill her. Bourgelas arrives just in time, and beats both of the Ubus. The play ends with the Ubus and their crew at sea sailing away from Poland, and Papa Ubu claims that he will find a way to name himself the Minister of Finance in Paris.
Character: The principal characters in the play are Papa Ubu and Mama Ubu. The supporting characters include Captain Bordure, Bourgelas, King Wenceslas, Queen Rosemond, Bolesas, Ladislas, General Lascy, Stanislas Leczinski, Jean Sobieski, Nicolas Rensky, Emperor Alexis, Lap, Battery, and Cotice. The minor characters include conspirators, soldiers, Pepple, Michel Federovtich, nobles, magistrates, councillors, financiers, Lackeys of Phynances, peasants, the Russian army, the Polish army, guards of Mama Ubu, a captain, the bear, the horse of Phynances, the crew, and the sea captain.
Thought/Theme: Themes in Ubu Roi include absurdism, greed, revenge, and power.
To start, Papa Ubu’s desire for greed and power leads to his absurd actions of killing the King of Poland and executing people for their property after he becomes the new king. Pap Ubu exclaims, “Oh well then, let’s get on with the Nobles, and seeing it’s taking so long to get richer, I’m going to execute them all. So I’ll get all their possessions. All right, throw the Nobles down the hole” (35). Mama Ubu has the same absurd desires for greed as she attempted to steal treasure from the crypt of the ancient kings of Poland: “Now, where is this treasure? No tile sounds hollow… Let’s hurry. Let’s take all. This money will be better off in daylight than in the middle of tombs of old princes” (47). Furthermore, revenge is a theme in the play because Bourgelas is visited by his deceased family members and is ordered to take revenge on Papa Ubu for killing Bourgelas’s father, the King of Poland. A ghost tells Bourgelas, “I place upon you the responsibility of exacting our vengeance. Let this sword not rest until it has caused the death of the usurper” (25).
Diction/Music/Sound: The language of the play is not too difficult, but the plot line is a bit complex and takes a lot of focus to follow along since it is a forerunner of a surrealist play. There would be music added into several scenes throughout the play. There would be dramatic, suspenseful music playing throughout the battle scenes and the murder
of the King. There would also be music playing during the scene changes, and the sounds would be a mixture of adventure and creepiness, especially during the ghost scene.
Spectacle: The setting of Ubu Roi takes place in Poland in several different locations including the house of Papa Ubu, the parade ground, a cavern, the King’s palace, a dungeon, and a bridge of the ship sailing out to sea. Several scene changes occur throughout the show and would have been done with darkening the stage while set pieces were moved. Costumes would be very absurd and unusual. For example, Papa and Mama Ubu would be in large, white baggy clothing with a giant spiral in the center of their costume. Costumes for the rest of the characters would also not look natural or realistic and have a surreal features.
Reflection of the Period: Ubu Roi was Alfred Jarry’s attempt to create a new style of theatre that rejected elements of naturalism or realism. While it is rumored that the audience reacted in an uproar after its first performance, the play presented controversial issues in a satirical and bizarre way. Ubu Roi is meant to be an unbalanced production that has a lack of structure, narrative, and plot and these unusual elements caused the audience to have an uncomfortable reaction. The themes in the play may have also started conversation in the audience about power and greed in society. Interestingly enough, Ubu Roi was a door opener for several new genres of theatre including dadaism, absurdism, and realism.