Ubu Roi

In one of my courses, we are discussing theatre movements in Europe. We discussed Realism, Naturalism, and a bit of Symbolism. Next week will be a tiny bit more of Symbolism before we move into Surrealism and Dadaism. One of the texts we were asked to read was Ubu Roi by Alfred Jarry. As with many plays of these periods, this was scandalous when it opened, particularly because the opening line is, basically, "Crrraaap!" (Merdre!) Quite scandalous for the time. Even now.

The funny thing is that I keep picturing the production that a classmate directed at UCSC (hooray Blake and production team!). It's odd to reconcile the choices they made for production in 2005 in Santa Cruz with descriptions of the original production. I have questions and insights and wish I had both a copy of the production and a copy of Jim Bierman's translation with me in Dublin. For now, I must trust to my memory of both until I return to California (where I at least have a copy of Jim's translation).

I am incredibly grateful to have been exposed to Blake's vision because I have something contemporary to compare with the class discussions. It's nice that my relationship with the text is not entirely based in historical accounts. And I find myself more interested in the contemporaries of Jarry, to some extent, because I know that Jarry was influential for one of my peers. I'm still wrapping my brain around the historical and sociological influences on these plays, but part of me can see an impending resurgence of Naturalism (the individual affected by the environment) as a movement away from the entertainment for the masses (much like what happened in the late nineteenth century).