WARNING: THE THEATRE PRODUCTION OF UBU ROI IS NOT APPROPRIATE FOR ALL AGES. The play contains strong sexual content, adult situations, and nudity. The show utilizes water/fluid effects that may get on audience members; please wear machine-washable clothing. Strobe lights, theatrical smoke and haze affects, and loud noises are also used in this production.

Guest Director Nick Taylor
Ubu Roi shows on Oct. 14, 15, 20, 21, and 22 at 7:30 p.m., with matinees on Oct. 16 and 23 at 2 p.m.

It’s A Riot with CSU Theatre’s Production of Ubu Roi by Alfed Jarry
No-holds-barred performance art pushes buttons and boundaries

Not often produced outside of collegiate theatre, Ubu Roi, by Alfred Jarry is an allegory about the abuses of the wealthy. Banned in France for decades – the play caused a riot when it first premiered in 1896 – the vulgar and wacky show is both relevant and controversial, with parallels to the current political environment. Think Monty Python meets South Park meets the 2016 Presidential Election meets nothing like you’ve ever experienced before.

Often cited as the seminal work of the Avant-garde movement, Ubu Roi is part play, part performance art, and part art instillation. Originally written and staged – with puppets – to mock a school teacher, Ubu Roi references many classical texts…and the rest is poo jokes. In this translation, King Ubu’s flatulent tale displays his over-indulgent rise to the top and Pa Ubu’s plot to usurp the throne from the King of Poland. Filled with scatological humor, physical inanity, a couple of gorillas, and the entire Polish and Russian armies, Ubu Roi is a messy good time perfumed with a 15 second intermission.

Read the Ubu Roi Program

Ubu Roi caused riots when it opened in Paris in 1896, and its shock waves continue to vibrate. — NY Times

Ubu Roi may have been written in 1896, but make no mistake: It’s a punk play. This surreal satire about a malevolent couple that betrays, steals and kills for money and power is as anti-establishment as the Sex Pistols braying at the queen — no wonder American post-punk band Pere Ubu took its name from the lead character. 

— Elisabeth Vincentelli, New York Post 


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