Ubu Roi Returns to Théâtre de Paris in Daniel Benoin's New Production

Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi will be staged at the Théâtre de Paris from September 16, in a contemporary production directed by Daniel Benoin. The play was originally created in 1896 at the same venue, then called Théâtre-Nouveau. Ubu is portrayed as cowardly, miserly, brutal, and grotesque; urged by Mère Ubu, he seizes absolute power. He does not conquer but crushes, does not govern but confiscates, exercising authority with the subtlety of a tank, in violence both absurd and methodical. Tyrannical, despoiling, and murderous toward the nobility, magistrates, and financiers, he establishes a reign based on fear, arbitrariness, and destruction. Governing without vision, strategy, or political intelligence, he is soon encircled by his own contradictions. His only escape is to attack abroad to mask internal collapse, launching an absurd war against the "Czar" and Russia, turning the madness of power into expansionist delirium. Controversial from its debut, Ubu Roi continues to provoke laughter and reaction today. Benoin's reinvented character becomes an instinctive mirror of society's aggression, and the play's story finds a troubling, cynical echo with our current world. The production is a partner event of Club Artistik Rezo.