King Ubu

King Ubu (Ubu Roi)

    Alternative Title: Ubu Rex; King Turd

    Author: Alfred Jarry

    Date Written: 1888

    First Performance: 1896, Paris

    Published: 1896

    First English Translation: 1951

    Genre: Farce in 5 acts; French prose

    Setting: Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Livonia, and at sea, indeterminate period

    Cast: 18m, 2f, extras (including ‘the entire Russian and Polish armies’)

‘Shrit!’ shouts Pa Ubu, as his wife urges him to murder King Wenceslas of Poland and seize the throne for himself. At a banquet Ubu poisons several of his guests with a toilet brush, then enlists Captain Bordure's support in his plot against the King. Wenceslas summons Ubu, who fears that his treachery has been discovered, but the King ennobles him further....

[The entire page is 555 words long]

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

eNotes Pass