Jarry, a Frenchman, wrote "Ubu Roi" around the turn-of-the-century. He was very young at the time, and the play in many ways is a sort of overgrown schoolboy's joke. It is very loosely a parody of Shakespeare's "MacBeth", written in gory and cheerful cartoon style, in which Ma and Pa Ubu, originally grossly fat, waddling caricatures, possibly even played by puppets, ape the careers of MacBeth and Lady MacBeth. They cheerfully beat and murder anyone who stands in their way on their path to the top, and Pa Ubu eventually disposes of his wife, who is growing too demanding.
The play's opening image evidently shocked the opening night audience in turn of the century Paris, though some saw the joke, and sensed that this play was questioning the nature of 'proper' theatre. When the curtain rises, we see Pa Ubu, apparently just rising from the toilet (his throne), clasping a lavatory brush (his sceptre), and yelling "Pschitt!!!" in tones of decided frustration and/or constipation.
The play has survived and has had many revivals around the world since then. It is a perennial favourite with student and alternative theatre groups. Even renowned director has Peter Brook staged it. Jarry is often regarded as a forerunner of Theatre of the Absurd.
Back around 1987, I played Ma Ubu in a production of Jarry's scatalogical and anarchic little parody. The production was staged at Allen Hall Theatre, and directed by Richard Huber.
I didn't actually appear on stage, however. We decided that Ma should be a huge presence looming over the action, so all my scenes were pre-recorded on videotape out on location, and played back on a large screen behind the action.I had to record my dialogue, leaving appropriate length pauses for the live actors to respond.
We filmed the exterior scenes of Ma Ubu at her castle residence in and around a derelict old mansion on a hillside in Dunedin known as Cargill's Castle. It was a perfect venue - the roof has caved in, as have many sections of the floor, and vandals have left their mark in the form of rubbish and graffiti on the remaining walls. Where better for Ma and Pa Ubu to dwell?
I had to have henchmen and servants, of course, and to reflect the cartoon nature of the piece, here they are, with white painted faces and cupid's bow red lips, dressed as jolly jack tars with a pseudo-Elizabethan feel. I am crossing all the bounds of good taste - Christmas cracker paper crown, moth-eaten fur coat, gaudy vaguely 18th century frock, and Hollywood-inspired sunglasses.
Black greasepaint eyebrows, powdered grey scrunched up hair and a scowling mouth also contributed to "the look".
© 1997 lisaw@deepsouth.co.nz
Get your own Free Home Page