Gerry Mulgrew stars in David Greig’s new Ubu (below, middle); Fatboy (right) and Martin Danziger’s 2005 Festival version
pure hostility the play provoked. Argument between the play's few apologists and its opponents raged for months. The one critic who wrote a positive review was sacked by his newspaper the next day. but the toothpaste wouldn't go back in the tube: the anti—naturalist tradition — which continues to this day — had been born.
Anti-naturalist. surrealist. absurdist; L’hu Roi has been labelled all these things. but most of all it is political. In the 1K. with its rather apolitical and studiously polite theatrical traditions. there have been implausible attempts to deny that the story of a man (with some resemblance to Macbeth) who unseats a king by violence. then enacts a bloody purge against his political opponents before engaging in a war of conquest for the sake of pure undisguised power without recourse to principle. is ideological. But from what I’ve told you already. you‘ll see how improbable this seems in other countries. (flit: is. in fact. a piece of agitprop against the nihilism of its culture.
And ours. Wherever a lust for bower becomes undisguised. where morality and principles become a piece of obvious. shallow glad- handing. we see L'bu. So now. more than ever we're seeing large-scale revivals: three in the space of just over a year for Scotland. In the Festival of 2004. Americana .»\bsurdum's I-itt/mv had Jat‘ry"s king of Poland turning distinctly American and neo conservative. John Clancy’s adaptation. an outstanding piece of savage indignation. kept a close hold of the agitprop element. with Mike McShane‘s [bit from Dubya land removing his make-up and walking to the stage apron to address our own complicity with this monster bringing a chilling end to an evening of gut-crunching hilarity. Suddenly. as if a light switch had been clicked. one saw the origins of such pieces as Brecht‘s The Resistava Rise of'Arrum (Ii. for L7bu. like L'i. is resistible. were we to switch off the telly and act. But do we want to'.’
But such is the political atmosphere of Blair's Britain. the point could. and should. be made again. It was. in the 2005 Festival. with Martin Danziger’s version for Theatre Modo seeing L'bu move to Scotland. where Jack McConnell. Blair and Brown are overthrown. One point in this glorious bunfight of a production — the point about our collusion in the greed cycle — was tnade by audience participation. Members of the audience were encouraged to chase about after a tenner. in an undignilied pursuit through both set and auditorium. Need I say more'.’ If I do. let
me add this: we’re all happy enough to see our politicians as part of a corrupt and rapacious system of dehumanised greed. A recent satire of the David Blunkett affair on television proves the point. but how ready are we to see that we are part of the same system'.’
The third production of recent times is Ubu the King. this time by the unlikely adaptor David (ireig. in a co-production by the Young Vic. Tron and Dundee Rep. As you might expect from Greig. the politics of this ['bu are tnore metaphorical. yet he sees the more direct political parallels. "I don't think (icorgc W Bush would be my model.’ he says. ‘lle has the crass stupidity you associate with l'bu. but I don‘t think the Christian thing is very l'bu. Although landing on an aircraft carrier in your flying jacket. I tnust admit. certainly is. But L'bu really speaks about America at the moment. It‘s not so much George Bush as America in its entirety. in that sense of the extraordinary ability not to comprehend its own power. but childishly revel in it.’
(ireig‘s version takes place in an old folks home. which looks like setting off the unease with the body that this very scatalogical play exploits very nicely. ()ur fears of the aged body. seen so often in the visual arts in recent years. are another means by which to explore our complicity with bigotry. ‘The play is always speaking about power.’ says (ireig. “The play begins with him shitting himself. which is funny among 25-year-olds. btit there‘s a rooted reality about an old person doing it. There‘s that rage and urge to show your bum and shout fuck in an 18-year-old. but it also returns in very old people. Because of the position of submissive dependency that old people are often reduced to. there‘s something quite moving about it. too. It‘s also quite taboo in old people. It can be very undergraduate in some ways. so 1 think you need to attach it to something serious to get the real power of it.‘ And power. it has.
Ubu the King is at the Tron Theatre, Glasgow, until Sat 12 Nov
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