How long must we wait until someone in the world of theatre does the obvious, and stages Alfred Jarry’s nihilistic, Symbolist and surrealist masterpiece Ubu Roi with Pere Ubu as Donald Trump. The parallels are obvious enough: an intellectual vacuum, a career coward, enslaved to his appetites, no impulse control, a thirst for power with no abilities to rule, and a grotesque physique. A contemporary political parable on the collapse of humanitarian values, the corrosive rise of neo-Fascism, and the ugly triumph of a man not fit to be a casino owner. Which he tried, and failed, well at least in Atlantic City.
And as Peter Brook saw the play, it also can be taken not as an absurdist tale, but a psychologically grotesque and chilling tale about what can happen when a man, a brutish bully with limited intelligence, un-sated appetites, and zero compassion for humanity, somehow get ahold of power. The other parts would be easily base as well on contemporary political figures: the King and Queen of Poland, slain by Trump/Ubu to seize power, could be the Obamas. Or even the Clintons. Or a combination of the two. Bougrelas, the escaping prince of Russia, could have been Putin, but Bougrelas is a knight out of medieval romances, the Good Knight (not good night), so Putin is out. Justin Trudeau maybe, and change Canada for Russia. But then again, the play works as a hallucinatory parable on the evils of power and the small minds of those who would wield it, so perhaps better to leave the settings as in the original.
The truth that Trump has lied and cheated his way to the presidency – for now – is far more absurd than Jarry’s Ubu Roi, but as deadly as he intended it. Even Jarry’s role model for Ubu, a miserable, over-matched, ridiculous and utterly banal school teacher M. Hébert, mocked by the school boys and powerless to defend himself, towers over Trump, as at least that lycée instructor made a career out of public education, as ineffective as he was. Trump is far more inept, but on a global scale, and the potential outcomes more dire.
According to the Ubu Roi Wikipedia page, a theatre in Lubbock, Texas staged a version shortly before the election on November 3, 2016. But so much more water has passed under the bridge since then, and the then-Republican nominee has assumed the role of president.
Someone has to do this.
And as Peter Brook saw the play, it also can be taken not as an absurdist tale, but a psychologically grotesque and chilling tale about what can happen when a man, a brutish bully with limited intelligence, un-sated appetites, and zero compassion for humanity, somehow get ahold of power. The other parts would be easily base as well on contemporary political figures: the King and Queen of Poland, slain by Trump/Ubu to seize power, could be the Obamas. Or even the Clintons. Or a combination of the two. Bougrelas, the escaping prince of Russia, could have been Putin, but Bougrelas is a knight out of medieval romances, the Good Knight (not good night), so Putin is out. Justin Trudeau maybe, and change Canada for Russia. But then again, the play works as a hallucinatory parable on the evils of power and the small minds of those who would wield it, so perhaps better to leave the settings as in the original.
The truth that Trump has lied and cheated his way to the presidency – for now – is far more absurd than Jarry’s Ubu Roi, but as deadly as he intended it. Even Jarry’s role model for Ubu, a miserable, over-matched, ridiculous and utterly banal school teacher M. Hébert, mocked by the school boys and powerless to defend himself, towers over Trump, as at least that lycée instructor made a career out of public education, as ineffective as he was. Trump is far more inept, but on a global scale, and the potential outcomes more dire.
According to the Ubu Roi Wikipedia page, a theatre in Lubbock, Texas staged a version shortly before the election on November 3, 2016. But so much more water has passed under the bridge since then, and the then-Republican nominee has assumed the role of president.
Someone has to do this.
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