Ubu Roi

Alternative title

King Ubu

Synopsis

French television version of the play by Alfred Jarry. Pere Ubu is an oafish, barely ranking civil servant persuaded by his shrewish wife to kill the King of Poland and usurp the throne. Ubu is unfit to rule anything, so his eventual ascension is a farce. He becomes a violent and incompetent dictator who kills his subjects, destroys the economy, and makes war arbitrarily. The play offers parodic adaptations of situations and plot-lines from Shakespearean drama, including Macbeth, Hamlet and Richard III. Like Macbeth, Ubu murders the king who has helped him on the urging of his wife, usurps the throne and is in turn defeated and killed by the dead man’s sons; Jarry adapts the ghost of the dead king and Fortinbras’ revolt from Hamlet; Buckingham’s refusal of reward for assisting a usurpation from Richard III; and The Winter’s Tale’s bear.

Language

French (Standard)

Country

France

Medium

Video

Transmission details

21 Sep 1965

Duration

97 mins

Availability

No archive copy known (7/2008).

Credits

Director

Jean-Christophe Averty

Cinematographer

Lucien Billard

Writer

Alfred Jarry

Music

Claude Terrasse; Jean-Claude Pelletier

Production Design

Jean-Jacques Faury

Cast

David Gafsou	Ladislas
Henri Virojeux	King Wenceslas
Hubert Deschamps	Captain Bordure
Jean Bouise	Father Ubu
Jocelyn Canoen	Jean Sobieski
Micha Bayard	Queen Rosamund
Rosy Varte	Mother Ubu

Additional Details

Production type

Television and Radio Drama

Plays

Macbeth

Subjects

Drama

Keywords

Jarry, Alfred

Notes

History

Ubu Roi premiered in 1896, and is widely acknowledged as a theatrical precursor to the Absurdist, Dada and Surrealist art movements. French production company unknown. Shown on the Austrian television channel ORTF 30 December 1968. French transmission date unknown.

Textual information

Ubu Roi is available at Project Gutenberg (www.gutenberg.org) in the original French.