Celebrating brilliance, originality and spirit in the early
works of some of the world’s great playwrights and theatre
artists. For more information visit www.younggenius.org
Ubu the King
By Alfred Jarry
Co-produced by Dundee Rep, Tron Theatre,
the Young Vic and BITE:05, Barbican as part of YOUNG GENIUS
First performed at the Tron Theatre, Glasgow on 3 November 2005
as part of YOUNG GENIUS
Funders of the YOUNG GENIUS Schools’ Programme across the UK,
including workshops, performance projects and free tickets for
school students and teachers
YOUNG GENIUS would not have been possible without the generous support of The Esmée Fairbairn
Foundation, The Corporation of London, Arts Council England Grants for the Arts, Ingenious Media plc,
The Jerwood Charity, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, the Genesis Foundation and NESTA.
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Contents
Page
1.
Alfred Jarry’s Life and Work
2
2.
Table of Key Dates
4
3.
A Brief Synopsis and Background to Ubu the King
5
4.
Theatre in Alfred Jarry’s Paris
7
5.
Social and Historical Context
9
6.
Interview with the Director Dominic Hill
11
7.
Creative Team
12
8.
Design Images
13
9.
About the Young Genius Season
15
10.
Bibliography and Further Reading
16
If you have any comments or questions about this Resource Pack, please contact us:
The Young Vic, Chester House, 1-3 Brixton Road, London SW9 6DE
T: 0207 820 3350
F: 0207 820 3355
E: info@youngvic.org
Written by Maria Aberg
© Young Vic 2005
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1.
Alfred Jarry’s Life and Work
Alfred Jarry was born on September 8th 1873 in the small village of Laval in Mayenne,
France. His father, Anselme, was a travelling textiles salesman, and Alfred later referred to
him as ‘an unimportant bugger’. Jarry was closer to his mother, Caroline, a headstrong
woman with a great interest in literature, art and music. When Jarry began to show signs of
academic excellence, Caroline decided to prepare her youngest son for university and
moved to Saint-Brience in Brittany, leaving their drunken, unsuccessful father behind. Jarry
became an academic wunderkind, winning praise and medals for his achievements in
French, Latin and English.
In 1888, Caroline sent the fifteen-year-old Jarry to the Lycée in Rennes to prepare for his
university studies. His classmates at Rennes called him ‘Quasimodo’ because of his short,
bowlegged figure, but nevertheless he made several good friends there. It was during this
time that the original idea for Ubu Roi was born, in a satirical sketch written by Jarry and two
friends which mocked an unusually fat and pompous maths teacher.
In 1890, Jarry moved to Paris to continue his studies, and rapidly became involved in the
lively literary scene, which distracted him from academia. He started attending Mallarmé’s
famous ‘at home’ evenings, where well-known writers and thinkers of the time would discuss
and debate current artistic phenomena, and he also attended the literary salon ‘Mercure de
France’.
Jarry cut a striking figure on the Parisian scene. Numerous descriptions of his colourful,
eccentric fashion sense survive – he could often be seen wearing full cycling regalia, a tall
stovepipe hat, a hooded cape and carrying a green umbrella. Once, he arrived at the Opera,
wearing a paper shirt on which he had painted a black tie. His living arrangements were
equally peculiar. His poky room in Boulevard Port de Royal was decked out with skulls and
skeletons, he housed numerous owls, and at one point he built himself a house on the Seine
with a hatch in the floor for fishing.
In every aspect of his life, Jarry sought to upset the mundane and everyday, rebelling against
the mediocrity of the bourgeoisie through excess and absurdity. He drank huge amounts of
absinthe and smoked opium to expand his senses, and he rejected any authoritarian system
or religion. In everything he did, he aimed for an exaggeration of reality, which would free the
soul from the confines of a middle-class life.
In 1893, Jarry caught the flu. His mother came to Paris to look after him, only to catch the flu
herself and die as a consequence. Jarry was terribly upset, and failed his entrance exams to
university. He signed up to take the test again the following year, but never did – instead he
started drinking more heavily, and became increasingly involved in the literary scene.
The following year Jarry was conscripted to the army; an experience he intensely disliked
and which came to influence his later writings. He became very depressed during his period
in the army, and in a mad scheme to get himself discharged, he injected himself with an acid
which turned his skin yellow, and was sent back to Paris. His 1897 novel Days And Nights –
A Novel of a Deserter vividly depicts his disgust with the military.
Jarry became involved with the Théâtre de l’Oeuvre upon his return from the army, and
managed to persuade the director to stage his now-finished play Ubu Roi. It opened on
December 10th, 1896, after a riotous dress rehearsal for an invited audience. The play
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caused an immediate scandal with its explicit language and unconventional stagecraft, and
was closed down after only one performance.
In the years after Ubu Roi, Jarry’s health rapidly began to deteriorate. He continued to drink
heavily and, because of financial problems, had to survive on a very poor diet. In 1904 he
bought some land outside Paris, where he built himself a house and lived in absolute
squalor, before becoming so ill that he had to move to his sister’s house in Laval to be cared
for. He never fully recovered. He moved back and forth between Laval and Paris, suffering
malnutrition and inhaling ether to keep the hunger at bay. He died in hospital from
tuberculosis, in November 1907, aged 33. His final words were ‘Bring me a tooth pick’, to the
last refusing to acknowledge authority or religion.
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2.
Table of Key Dates
1859
Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species is published.
1861
The creator of the ‘well-made drama’, Eugène Scribe, dies.
1870
Napoleon declares war on Prussia.
He is captured at Sedan and forced to abdicate.
The Prussian army besieges Paris.
1871
France surrenders to the Prussian army and a peace treaty is signed.
1873
Alfred Jarry is born in Laval, France.
1885
A group of artists led by poet Stephane Mallarmé writes the Symbolist
Manifesto.
1888
Jarry is sent to the Lycée in Rennes.
Together with two classmates, Jarry writes the first version of Ubu Roi
and calls it The Poles.
1887
Andre Antoine sets up the Théâtre Libre, the first theatre dedicated to
naturalistic plays.
1889
The World Exhibition takes place in Paris; the Eiffel Tower is constructed for the
event.
1890
Jarry moves to Paris to continue his studies but is rapidly caught up in
the lively literary scene.
The first performance of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler takes place in Paris.
1893
Jarry’s mother dies after catching the flu from her son.
1894
Jarry is conscripted into the army against his will.
1895
The Lumière brothers premiere the first motion picture at a café in Paris.
1896
Jarry starts working at the Théâtre de l’Oeuvre in Paris.
December: Ubu Roi opens at the Théâtre de l’Oeuvre; it closes after only
one performance.
1900
The Paris Métro system opens.
1904
Jarry moves to a house in the countryside outside Paris.
1907
Jarry dies in hospital age 33 after being cared for by his sister.
1908
Ubu Roi is revived for the first time.
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3.
A Brief Synopsis and Background to Ubu the King
In David Greig’s version, the play is set in an old person’s home. It opens with Mum and Dad
Ubu arguing about whether or not Dad Ubu should kill the King of Kazakhstan and take over
the throne. They throw a dinner party for their friend Captain Cacker and his merry band, a
raucous affair which ends with Dad Ubu poisoning several guests by making them eat shit
from a toilet brush.
After the party, Dad Ubu declares his intention to make Captain Cacker Grand Duke of the
Gobi desert, and Captain Cacker realises that Dad Ubu is planning to assassinate the King.
Shortly thereafter, the king sends for Dad Ubu and announces that he’s making him Marquis
of Mongolia. The King asks Dad Ubu to participate in a big parade the following day.
Dad Ubu and Captain Cacker discuss the various ways of killing the King, and decide to
perform the coup during the celebratory parade. The Queen, meanwhile, has had a terrible
dream in which she sees her husband killed, and she tries to dissuade him from attending
the parade. The King ignores her, and to prove he’s not afraid, he goes to the parade without
both sword and armour.
At the parade, Dad Ubu and Captain Cacker swiftly kill the King and Dad Ubu claims the
throne. The terrified Queen and Prince Buggeroff manage to escape after a bloody fight with
Dad Ubu and his men. They take refuge in a mountain cave, but the Queen is weak and
soon dies. The Prince sees the spirits of his ancestors, who tell him to avenge his parents’
death.
Once on the throne, Dad Ubu sets about causing havoc in the state. He hands out money
and pies to the people to persuade them to pay their taxes. He kills all the rich people in his
kingdom and takes their wealth and titles. He kills the judges and takes law and order into his
own hands, and invents a series of new taxes which only benefit him. Together with his
soldiers, he goes to the house of some poor people to collect their new tax, and when they
can’t pay they are all killed and their house destroyed.
Meanwhile, Captain Cacker has been thrown in the dungeon, as Dad Ubu is convinced that
he doesn’t need his old friend anymore. Captain Cacker warns him to stop his savage rule to
avoid the people’s revenge, but Dad Ubu dismisses his advice. Captain Cacker then phones
the Russian Tsar, and asks for his help in returning the throne to its rightful owner, Prince
Buggeroff.
Cacker informs Dad Ubu of the Tsar’s decision to fight him. Dad Ubu is terrified of war, but
Mum Ubu persuades him to go into battle. He gets prepared to go and announces that Mum
Ubu will be running the country while he is at war.
Mum Ubu, of course, wastes no time trying to take control herself, but before long the castle
is attacked by Prince Buggeroff and Mum Ubu is forced to flee. Dad Ubu, too, is on the run,
after a particularly bloody battle with the Tsar.
Dad Ubu finds a dark cave to hide in. Coincidentally, Mum Ubu ends up in the same cave, at
first scaring Dad Ubu by pretending to be a ghost. They begin to argue, but they’re
interrupted by Prince Buggeroff who storms into the cave to fight them. After a brief struggle,
Mum and Dad Ubu escape and decide to make their way back to England.
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The character of Ubu first appeared in a satirical sketch, written not by Alfred Jarry himself,
but by two of his classmates at his school in Rennes. Henri Morin and his brother Charles
had written a short play called The Poles mocking their pompous mathematics teacher, Felix
Hébert. Hébert, or ‘Père Heb’, was described as an enormously fat, barrel-like figure; the
very epitome of the petit bourgeois greed Alfred was growing to hate.
When Jarry contributed to the play, it became increasingly wicked in its satire, and more and
more bizarre. He added the concentric circles on Père Heb’s stomach, and renamed the
protagonist Ubu. The Poles was performed in December 1888 at the Morins’ home, using a
set of marionettes which Jarry had been given for Christmas. He was then fifteen years old.
After that, Ubu continued to appear in Jarry’s writings, but it was not until after he returned
from military service that he wrote the final version of Ubu Roi as it survives today.
In 1896, Lugné-Poe, artistic director at the small avant-garde theatre Théâtre de l’Oeuvre,
asked Jarry to come and work at various odd jobs in the theatre – helping him to plan the
schedule, paint scenery and even play small parts in a few productions. Jarry soon began to
press Lugné-Poe for a production of his play, saying that the play was both cheap to produce
and had great commercial potential.
Eventually, Lugné-Poe gave in, and the play was given its first performance on December
9th, 1896, before an invited audience of intellectuals and friends. The set had been painted by
a group of men including the artists Toulouse-Lautrec and Bonnard, but the orchestra Alfred
originally wanted had had to be reduced to a piano and a drum. Before the curtain went up,
Alfred gave a lengthy speech in which he apologised for the poor state of the set and the fact
that they hadn’t had enough rehearsal time, and described Ubu as ‘a school boy’s caricature
of one of his professors who personified for him all the ugliness in the world’. Many of the
audience members that night had read the play before seeing the performance, but were
nonetheless shocked by the puppets, the use of masks, the explicit language and the
unusual style of scenic painting.
The shock at the dress rehearsal, however, was nothing compared to the absolute outrage
created by the first public performance the following night. As soon as the first word was
uttered – the now-famous ‘Merdre!’1 – audience members began shouting, fighting and
leaving the theatre. Alfred Jarry had become a celebrity overnight, but the play was given
one performance only and was not performed again until twelve years later, in 1908.
Jarry, however, returned to the Ubu character several times throughout his life. In 1900, he
wrote Ubu Enchâíné, which had to wait for its first performance until the Paris Exhibition in
1937. A year later, he wrote Ubu sur la Butte, and before his death also Ubu Cocu, published
posthumously in 1944.
1
A conscious miss-spelling of ‘merde’, variously translated as ‘shite’ or ‘shitr’
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4.
Theatre in Alfred Jarry’s Paris
When Ubu Roi premiered in 1896 it caused a riot and the play was closed down after only
one performance. Today, the play might not seem so shocking, but in Jarry’s Paris it was
seen as scandalous. Theatre was viewed almost exclusively as entertainment for the upperand middle classes. On the whole, plays were conventional affairs, aiming to please rather
than to challenge. The dominating new trend was realism – not exactly a genre that Ubu Roi
fell into. The climate was anything but receptive to the kind of experimentation Jarry was
attempting.
The mainstream theatre existed largely as a source of after-dinner light entertainment for the
Parisian bourgeoisie, who went to socialise and enjoy an evening of ‘well-made’ drama.
Normally, a play would not be considered successful unless it was given at least 100
performances, and most plays were expected to run for about 300. Consequently, theatre
managers were keen to produce work which they were convinced would be popular, and the
margin for experimental theatre was very small indeed.
The most dominant figure in the late 19th Century was the hugely successful playwright
Eugène Scribe, who was the inventor of the original ‘well-made’ play. In 1836 Scribe
famously described the theatre as ‘a place for relaxation and amusement, not for instruction
or correction’, and this sentiment was widely accepted throughout the 19th Century.
Scribe wrote over 300 plays for Parisian theatres before his death in 1861, including
comedies, vaudevilles and opera libretti, and was seminal in shaping the theatrical landscape
in Paris at the time of Alfred Jarry’s arrival thirty years later. On the whole, Scribe’s plays can
be described as well-structured, plot-driven plays where complexity of character or argument
is sacrificed to intrigue. The plays adhere to the Aristotelian ideals of unity of place and time,
and deal largely with middle-class issues and problems.
Scribe’s stylistic heir, Victorien Sardou, was one of the world’s most popular playwrights
between 1860 and 1900. He wrote a number of extremely successful comedies, including a
few for the famous actress Sarah Bernhard. Sardou’s plays have been criticised for being
overly simplistic and shallow, which may explain why so few of them are performed today.
Often productions were simply vehicles for great stars, and consequently artistic standards
suffered.
As a reaction against this style of light entertainment, French theatre of the late 19 th Century
began to display a strong tendency towards realism. As early as the 1850s, directors had
begun to replicate real rooms on stage to create an illusion of reality, and a corresponding
acting style soon developed. Actors began to smoke on stage, to knit, eat, even perform
seemingly ‘real’ blood transfusions, as in a famous 1890 production.
This realist trend grew stronger for a number of reasons. Since the publication of Darwin’s
The Origin of Species in 1859, the interest in evolutionary theory had grown rapidly. Thinkers
and artists were beginning to investigate the effect of hereditary and environmental forces on
the human psyche. Also, in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian war, the interest in the
conditions of the working classes grew, and inspired many writers, most notably Emile Zola.
His novel Thérèse Raquin is widely acknowledged as beginning of the naturalist movement.
In other European countries, too, the trend developed in a similar way and the various
impulses began to cross-fertilise.
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In 1887, André Antoine, a former clerk in a gas company, set up a theatre called Théâtre
Libre. It was a theatre open only to members and therefore exempt from censorship, which
gave Antoine the possibility of presenting a range of new, controversial, naturalist drama.
The Théâtre Libre became the first French home for plays like Ibsen’s The Wild Duck and
Tolstoy’s The Power Of Darkness. Antoine strove to observe the principle of the so-called
‘fourth wall’ in his productions, designing the set with four walls and only later deciding which
one to ‘remove’, and encouraging the actors to behave as if the audience wasn’t there.
Naturalism was far less popular than Scribe’s style of theatre, and was therefore relegated to
the fringes, but its impact on the development of European theatre since has been
enormous.
Fortunately for Alfred Jarry, however, there was counter-movement to the growing realistic
trend. In 1885, a group of artists, writers and thinkers had issued a manifesto outlining the
ideals of symbolism. They argued that there was a higher, mystical truth to existence that
could not be explained by science, but which could only be expressed through symbols or
myths. The principal figure for the symbolists was poet Stéphane Mallarmé, whose thoughts
on drama became very influential for the movement.
In terms of theatre, symbolism first came to the fore in 1890 in the shape of a small,
independent theatre run by poet Paul Fort, called Théâtre d’Art. Here a large number of
authors were presented, often in a shoddy style for one performance only and by amateur
actors. Consequently artistic standards suffered, Fort’s efforts were received with critical
hostility, and the theatre was closed down two years later. However, Fort’s work was
continued at Lugné-Poe’s Théâtre de l’Oeuvre. Between 1893 and 1899, Lugné-Poe
presented works by Maeterlinck, Ibsen and Hauptmann, as well as a number of French plays
and Sanskrit dramas. His goal was to find an expressive theatrical style where ‘the word
creates the décor’ and his simple designs were carried out by painters such as ToulouseLautrec and Bonnard.
It was here that Ubu Roi premiered in 1896, and although Lugné-Poe had to close the
theatre in 1899, it was reopened in 1912 and then again after World War one, and is
considered one of the most important avant-garde theatres in recent French theatre history.
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5.
Social and Historical Context
A few years before Alfred Jarry’s birth in 1873, Napoleon’s nineteen year long rule had come
to an end. In 1870 he had declared war on Prussia, only to be defeated and forced to
abdicate. An emergency republic, called the Third Republic, was immediately announced.
Shortly thereafter, the Prussian army besieged Paris for four months before the city
surrendered and the Prussian peace treaty imposed severe penalties on the French.
The Third Republic, a republican parliamentary democracy, was an unstable and largely
unpopular republic, and wasn’t really meant to last as long as it did (until the German
invasion in 1940). There was major controversy about whether or not France should return to
being a monarchy, something which was initially widely supported amongst the general
population. When the various contesting political groups decided to offer the throne to Comte
de Chabord, the legal but childless heir to the throne, he refused it on the basis that he didn’t
want to be king of a country with the Tricolore as its flag, since it was a symbol for the French
Revolution of 1789. The French, torn between their love for the flag and their desire for a
monarchy, decided to establish a ‘temporary’ republic, whilst they waited for Comte de
Chabord to die so that his more liberal successor could take to the throne.
However, during the next few years, public opinion changed and republicanism became
increasingly popular. Under the growing threat of political chaos, the idea of re-instating the
monarchy was finally abandoned in 1877 and the French crown jewels were symbolically
broken up and sold off in 1885.
A succession of governments within the Third Republic collapsed during its sixty-odd years’
duration, and various political groups – socialists, liberals, conservatives and others –
continued to jostle for power. Nonetheless, or perhaps because of this, the Third Republic
saw an explosion in creative activity, which centered mainly on Paris and became known as
the ‘belle époque’.
In 1889 the Eiffel tower was built for the Paris Exposition and with the rise of the
Impressionist movement, the birth of cinema and its reputation as a city of sin, Paris rapidly
became established as ‘the place to be’. The nineties saw a range of innovations, both in arts
and in science. Artists who made their debuts included the painters Henri Toulouse-Lautrec
and Paul Cézanne and composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. The development of
film by the Lumière brothers heralded a new creative industry and spread rapidly throughout
Europe, with the first performance of cinematographic images outside France given in
London in 1896. The end of the 19th century also heralded the invention of aspirin, the first
radio transmission, and the discovery of the electron. It was no doubt, a period of intense
creative activity.
The bourgeoisie, however, ruled Paris. Gastronomic etiquette, for example, played a central
part in Parisian socialising, and Jarry took great care in making sure that he upset the
‘common herd’, as he called them, when he dined in fine restaurants. His tricks might include
ordering an entire meal back-to-front, starting with the dessert, or challenging his friends to
eat gherkins soaked in absinthe until they were sick.
The bourgeoisie was obsessed with its image. It was of utmost importance to be seen to do
the right thing, in the right way. Elaborate systems of etiquette were developed. One
favourite pastime was to stroll in the many beautifully laid out Paris gardens. The rules for
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greeting acquaintances were intricate and scrupulously observed and laid out in a series of
guides to behaviour.
‘While strolling a gentleman should always acknowledge an
That acknowledgement should be quiet and courteous for a
and obnoxious. If the acquaintance is a lady, he should
acknowledged him. After a brief conversation with a lady on
bow then raise his hat.’
acquaintance, it’s rude not to.
gentleman should not be loud
bow, but only after she has
the street a gentleman should
The Opera was another social playground for the bourgeoisie. Few people went to actually
listen to the music; spectators usually continued to gossip and chatter throughout the
performance. Social status was indicated by where one sat in the auditorium. The wealthiest
patrons sat in boxes, while the music lovers sat behind the orchestra.
Fashion, restaurants and casinos were other ways in which the bourgeoisie could flaunt their
style and class. It is easy to see how the mannerisms and affectations of this aspirational
class irritated someone like Alfred Jarry, who took every opportunity to mock these poseurs.
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6.
Interview with the Director Dominic Hill
What attracted you to the play when you first read it?
I loved its outrageousness, its sense of anarchy and excess. Also, the new translation by
David Greig that we are working with is wonderfully gritty and funny and rooted in the
Scottish language – rather than in some artificial, slightly abstract language.
What kind of preparatory work have you done for rehearsals?
David and I decided early on that we wanted to set the play in an old people’s home, so I
have visited some of these to get a better sense of the institution and how people operate in
such environments.
Could you describe a little about how you work in the rehearsal room?
I think I am working differently on this play than on any other I have done. Normally I work in
great detail on the text to start with, but in this case I have been interested first and foremost
in how to stage the piece, particularly in relation to the concept of the production. Once I
have some idea of how it will all work theatrically I will go back to the text in detail. David
Greig is a wonderfully precise and detailed writer – even in a piece that seems so messy and
out of control. The production needs to do justice to this text.
What do you think the challenges are in directing this play?
I think the actual staging of this play is the greatest challenge. The stage directions ask for
hordes of armies, mass murders, ghosts, snow storms and so on. And the style, too, is very
pantomimic, almost Punch & Judy-like. Finding that style is crucial – something that is funny,
violent and shocking without ultimately being boring or alienating the audience. I’m also keen
to create something that isn’t just a schoolboy romp, but something that has greater meaning
and profundity without losing the fun and anarchy.
How do you think the play can speak to an audience today?
I think the play is about the use and abuse of power. In our concept for this production it is
about people at the end of their lives acting out their dreams, desires and paranoias. It’s
about potential and impotence. Theatre is the greatest place for exploring the imagination,
the world of our desires and fears. I think Ubu does that.
What do you hope the audience will get from the experience?
I hope they’ll have a good time. I think the play is very funny and outrageous and I hope the
audience will enjoy that. If we can be a bit shocking and at times a bit moving too, then that
will be a bonus.
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7.
Creative team
Director
New Version
Designer
Lighting Designer
Sound Designer
Composer
Choreographer
Assistant Director
Cast
Dad
Mum
Cracker/Buggeroff
The Chorus
Dominic Hill
David Greig
Tom Piper
Bruno Poet
Paddy Cuneen
Janet Smith
Tim Licata
Gerry Mulgrew
Ann Louise Ross
Emun Elliot
Thane Bettany
Matthew Bill Boyd
Kay Gallie
Pamela Kelly
Ruth McGie
Bill Murdoch
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8.
Design Images
In preparation for the production the designer will create a scale model box of the set. This
provides the actors with a clear sense of the set they will be performing on and is an
important aid to the other members of the creative team. The model box is also used by the
Production Manager and the production team to build the set. It has to be incredibly detailed
and accurate as the size, shape and colour of the final set will be dictated by the model box.
From the model box detailed drawings will be made and the Production Manager and his
team will work out how to build the set and what materials to use. Below are photos taken
from the model box designed by Tom Piper.
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9.
About the Young Genius Season
There’s ability, there’s talent and there’s genius.
When we came up with the idea for Young Genius we were faced with a huge number of
questions. Everyone is born with creative abilities of various kinds. Talent, it seems to us, is
the result of a relationship: between an individual and a particular parent or teacher or even
an audience. What is genius? Can it be measured? Some even deny it exists. How is it that
some people can ‘do it’ almost – or so it seems – without thinking and almost as soon as
they begin? We wanted this season to be a celebration of that extraordinary phenomenon:
artists who know at once who they are, who find their voice the moment they start to speak.
We decided to focus on plays that were written before the playwright reached the age of 26.
We read a great many plays and were delighted and astonished at the range and creative
force leaping off the page through history. From the fifteenth century to the 1990s, from
Africa to America to Europe, young, bold playwrights were making themselves heard,
reinventing their craft and changing the future of theatre.
Selecting six plays for production was almost impossible. The plays we’ve chosen range
from Elizabethan comedy to French surrealism to modern British drama, and span more than
four hundred years of playwriting.
From the dawn of Elizabethan theatre, we chose Christopher Marlowe’s epic Tamburlaine
The Great, a powerful story about greed and politics, adapted in a new version by David
Farr. Written just twenty years later, Francis Beaumont’s The Knight of the Burning Pestle
is an anarchic romp, satirical and hilarious. Then we leap ahead in time – two hundred and
thirty years – to Georg Büchner’s visceral pre-modernist Woyzeck, a withering tale of
poverty and madness. Sixty years on, and Alfred Jarry is causing a theatrical scandal with
Ubu the King in a Paris sizzling with artistic activity, presented here in an outrageous new
version by David Greig. Sixty years later, Nigerian playwright Wole Soyinka writes The Lion
and the Jewel, an exuberant example of ‘total theatre’ which points towards the Nobel Prize
Soyinka was later to receive. Finally, we reach the present, with Sarah Kane’s radical,
shocking Phaedra’s Love, a re-working of Seneca’s tragedy which has only been seen once
before in this country.
To match these works of young genius, we set about finding the most exciting directors and
designers we could. Led by our desire to be both local and international, we gathered six
creative teams from all corners of the world. Geniuses all? You decide. What we’re sure of is
that these 17 full and workshop productions celebrate – across the ages – youthful ambition,
provocation, experimentation, confidence and the joy of creativity.
Join us. Be inspired.
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10.
Bibliography and Further Reading
Alfred Jarry – The Man with the Axe by Nigey Lennon (Pajandrum Books, 1984)
The Banquet Years: The Arts in France, 1885-1918 by Roger Shattuck (Faber & Faber,
1959)
Alfred Jarry – A Critical and Biographical Study by Keith Beaumont (Leicester University
Press, 1984)
Alfred Jarry and his Literary Context by Ben Fisher (University College of North Wales, 1984)
Alfred Jarry by Linda Klieger Stillman (Boston Twayne, 1984)
Introduction to the Ubu plays by Alfred Jarry by Simon Watson Taylor (Methuen, 1968)
History of the Theatre by Oscar G Brockett (Allyn and Bacon, 1995)
Links
http://www.milkmag.org/jarry.htm
An extensive essay on Jarry’s life and work
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/ajarry.htm
A biography with a list of Jarry’s works
http://www.idler.co.uk/html/idols/jarry.htm
An account of Jarry’s eccentric personality
http://www.ralphmag.org/jarry.html
Another biography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Paris#Paris_in_the_19th_century
A concise history of Paris in the nineteenth century
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Third_Republic
An explanation of the Third Republic
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