SHAKESPEARE

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

Email

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.