15 - 26 November 2005

Hugely influential and still as provoking and entertaining as ever, UBU beat out the path to be followed later by the writers of the Theatre of the Absurd, Dadaism and even the punk movement. It’s surreal satire, the tale of two gross and glorious megalomaniacs who spur each other on to overthrow the king, loosely blends elements of Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Richard III but seems in its grotesquery to foreshadow the gangsterism of Hitler, Idi Amin or Saddam Hussein. Over a century ago, Jarry already knew our world with an uncanny prescience.

Ubu the King is part of Young Genius.

Young Genius would not have been possible without the generous support of The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation,The Corporation of London, Ingenious Media, Arts Council England Grants for the Arts, The Jerwood Charity, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, the Genesis Foundation and NESTA

'a lurid and enjoyable night out' The Scotsman

'A glorious and foul-mouthed rage against the machine' The Scotsman