Ubu Roi
- Alternative title
- King Ubu
- Synopsis
- 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 plots 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’s revolt from Hamlet; Buckingham’s refusal of reward for assisting a usurpation from Richard III; and The Winter’s Tale’s bear.
- Language
- English
- Country
- Great Britain
- Medium
- Television
- Technical information
- Colour / Sound
- Transmission details
- 1976
- Duration
- 50 mins
Credits
- Director
- Paul Kafno
- Writer
- Alfred Jarry
- Music
- Dudley Simpson
- Cast
Brenda Bruce Ma Ubu Donald Pleasence Pa Ubu Gyearbuor Asante Gyron Jacqueline Delhaye Queen Rosamund John Evitts King Wenceslas
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 ORTF 30 December 1968. British transmission date unknown.
- Textual information
- Ubu Roi is available at Project Gutenberg (www.gutenberg.org) in the original French.
Production Company
- Name
BBC
- Notes
- The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
- Name
Open University
Distributor (Sale)
- Name
Films for the Humanities & Sciences
- custserv.@films.com
- Web
- http://ffh.films.com/ External site opens in new window
- Fax
- +1 609 671 0266
- Address
- 132 West 31st Street, 17th Floor
New York
NY 10001
USA - Notes
- Films for the Humanities & Sciences is part of the US-based Films Media Group and specialises in selling programmes aimed at the HE and FE education and training market. The collection has thousands of titles and a range of separate subject catalogues is available in pdf format at http://ffh.films.com/landing.aspx?show=Catalogs/catalog_FFH.htm. Sale on video/DVD or online viewing via the Films on Demand service.
How to cite this record
Shakespeare, "Ubu Roi". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/shakespeare/search/index.php/title/av71074 (Accessed 06 Oct 2024)