History Theatre / UbuRoi

* BadBoss: Ubu, full stop. Once he is in power, he mistreats his underlings and backpedals on all of his promises, executes anyone who criticises him and/or stands between him and his short-term profit, squeezes the people for the last bits of money. Even as he flees after losing against the Russians, he treats his two surviving underlings so badly that [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere they eventually have enough and leave him]].

* {{Main/Greed}}: Père Ubu is initially reluctant to commit mass regicide (although more out of cowardice than morality), but he quickly changes his mind when he realises that it will make him richer.

* HollywoodTactics: In-universe example. Ubu's strategies are terrible, and although his assassination plot works surprisingly well, when Ubu goes to war he is absolutely inept at it and is predictably crushed.
---> '''Ubu''': I recommend, gentlemen, that you load your rifles with as many bullets as they can hold, for eight bullets can kill eight russians and that is just as many that I won't have to worry about. We'll put the infantry here, at the bottom of the hill to greet the Russians and kill them a little, the cavalry right behind to jump into the fray, and the artillery all around this here windmill to just fire in their general direction.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Ubu tends to murder people in unclear but undoubtedly spectacular ways, like cutting ears, "torsion of the nose and teeth, and extraction of the tongue"… According to the vague didaskalia, he apparently "rips" or "tears" Bordure during the war, and his favourite method of execution is to throw people dosn a trapdoor, at the bottom of which lies the [[{{Main/Lobotomy}} Brain Removal Machine]].

---> '''Ubu''': I advise, gentlemen, that you load the rifles with as many bullets as they can hold, for eight bullets can kill eight russians and that is just as many that I won't have to bother about. We'll put the infantry here, at the bottom of the hill to greet the Russians and kill them a little, the cavalry right behind to jump into the fray, and the artillery all around this here windmill to just fire in their general direction.

* CruelAndUnusualPunishment: Ubu tends to murder people in unclear but undoubtedly spectacular ways, like cutting ears, "torsion of the nose and teeth, and extraction of the tongue"… According to the vague didaskalia, he apparently "rips" or "tears" Bordure during the war, and his favourite method of execution is to throw people dosn a trapdoor, at the bottom of which lies the Brain-Removal Machine.

* HollywoodTactics: In-universe example. Ubu is terrible at tactics in general, military tactics in particular and it was a wonder that his assassination plot worked ; in an all-out war against the Russians, he and his troops are mercilessly crushed.

* TheCoup: The first act of the play. Doubles as TheMilitaryCoup, since Ubu allied with captain Bordure, one of the King's top-ranking officers.

* EvilIsPetty: Both Ubus tend to resort to extreme measures for the slightest of offences. Mère Ubu persuaded her husband to commit mass regicide just because she felt like becoming queen, and what won him over was the prospect of eating a lot of sausages and the snazzy clothes that come with the function.

* DirtyCoward: After Ubu [[spoiler: loses against the Russians]], he and his paladins hide in a cave, when a bear enters. His two paladins risk their lives to kill the bear, while Ubu runs off to a safe distance and loudly recites prayers, afterwards [[BlatantLies claiming they wouldn't have survived the encounter without his prayers]].

* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: Averted. We know the details of the (arguably rather simple) plan devised by Ubu to kill the King, and it goes just as planned.

* AGoodNameForARockBand: The band Pere Ubu took its name from this play.

* KillEmAll: Ubu executes the nobles, magistrates, and financiers for their possessions.

->''"Merdre."[[note]]The French word for "shit", with an added r.[[/note]]''

* HeroAntagonist: Bougrelas.

* SurrealHumor

* VulgarHumor

* VillainProtagonist: Père Ubu. He's [[{{Greed}} greedy]], [[{{ItsAllAboutMe}} self-serving]], and [[{{DirtyCoward}} cowardly]]. He also frequently threatens Mère Ubu with violence.

Ubu Roi evolved out of a schoolboy joke between Jarry and his friends, making fun of his physics teacher, Hébert; "Ubu" is likewise a distortion of "Hébert". His friends moved on, but Jarry continued and refined it, and it became ''Ubu Roi'', a bizarre, comical play full of VulgarHumor and idiosyncratic language, parodying ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}''. When it was first staged at the Théâtre de l'Œuvre in 1896, it offended the audience enough to cause a riot.

Ubu Roi ("King Ubu") is a play by French playwright Alfred Jarry. It involves Père Ubu, a fat, greedy slob, who is convinced by his wife, Mère Ubu, to kill King Venceslas and become the king of Poland. He succeeds with the help of Captain Bordure, under the condition that he gets Lithuania. Upon being crowned, however, Ubu immediately begins abusing his new authority; he denies Bordure Lithuania and imprisons him, kills the nobles and bankers for their money and titles, and then raises the taxes to absurd levels and violently collects them in person. Bordure escapes to Russia, and gets Tsar Alexis to declare war on Poland to get rid of Ubu. But as Ubu prepares to fight the Russians, Bougrelas, the last surviving son of Venceslas, is preparing a revolt of his own, to free Poland from Ubu and avenge his family...

It also got two sequels; ''Ubu Cocu'' ("Cuckold Ubu"), an unfinished play where Ubu violently takes over someone's home in search of a man whom Mère Ubu is cheating on him with, and ''Ubu Enchaîné'' (Slave Ubu), where [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext Ubu seeks freedom from tyrany by becoming a slave.]]

Ubu Roi evolved out of a schoolboy joke between Jarry and his friends, making fun of his physics teacher, Hébert; "Ubu" is likewise a distortion of "Hébert". His friends moved on, but Jarry continued and refined it, and it became ''Ubu Roi'', a bizarre, comical play full of VulgarHumor and idiosyncratic language, parodying. ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' When it was first staged at the Théâtre de l'Œuvre in 1896, it offended the audience enough to cause a riot.

Ubu Roi evolved out of a schoolboy joke between Jarry and his friends, making fun of his physics teacher, Hébert; "Ubu" is likewise a distortion of "Hébert". His friends moved on, but Jarry continued and refined it, and it became ''Ubu Roi'', a bizarre, comical play full of VulgarHumor and idiosyncratic language, parodying ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' When it was first staged at the Théâtre de l'Œuvre in 1896, it offended the audience enough to cause a riot.

Ubu Roi evolved out of a schoolboy joke between Jarry and his friends, making fun of his physics teacher, Hébert; "Ubu" is likewise a distortion of "Hébert". His friends moved on, but Jarry continued and refined it, and it became ''Ubu Roi'', a bizarre, comical play full of VulgarHumor and idiosyncratic language, parodying {{Theatre/Macbeth}}. When it was first staged at the Théâtre de l'Œuvre in 1896, it offended the audience enough to cause a riot.

It's a highly influential play, and a precursor to {{UsefulNotes/Dada}}, {{Surrealism}}, and {{Absurdism}}.

Ubu Roi ("King Ubu") is a play by French playwright Alfred Jarry. It involves Père Ubu, a fat, greedy slob, who is convinced by his wife, Mère Ubu, to kill King Venceslas and become the king of Poland. He succeeds with the help of Captain Bordure, under the condition that he gets Lithuania. Upon being crowned,

however, Ubu immediately begins abusing his new authority; he denies Bordure Lithuania and imprisons him, kills the nobles and bankers for their money and titles, and then raises the taxes to absurd levels and violently collects them in person. Bordure escapes to Russia, and gets Tsar Alexis to declare war on Poland to get rid of Ubu. But as Ubu prepares to fight the Russians, Bougrelas, the last surviving son of Venceslas, is preparing a revolt of his own, to free Poland from Ubu and avenge his family...

* StuffBlowingUp: While dogpiling King Venceslas, one of Ubu's paladins "explodes".

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: While dogpiling King Venceslas, one of Ubu's paladins "explodes".

It also got two sequels; ''Ubu Cocu'' ("Cuckold Ubu"), an unfinished play where Ubu violently takes over someone's home in search of a man whom Mère Ubu is cheating on him with, and ''Ubu Enchaîné'' (Slave Ubu), where [[{{MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext}} Ubu seeks freedom from tyrany by becoming a slave.]]

* BearsAreBadNews: A hostile bear enters the cave where [[spoiler: Ubu and his henchmen are hiding after losing to the Russians.]]

* DirtyCoward: [[spoiler: After Ubu loses against the Russians, he and his paladins hide in a cave, when a bear enters. His two paladins risk their lives to kill the bear, while Ubu runs off to a safe distance and loudly recites prayers in [[{{CanisLatinicus}} (probably fake)]] Latin.]]

* KillEmAll: Ubu executes the nobles, magistrates, and councellors for their money and titles.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: When dogpiling King Venceslas, one of Ubu's paladins "explode".

Ubu Roi ("King Ubu") is a play by French playwright Alfred Jarry. It involves Père Ubu, a fat, greedy slob, who is convinced by his wife, Mère Ubu, to kill King Venceslas and become the king of Poland. He succeeds with the help of Captain Bordure, under the condition that he gets Lithuania. Upon being crowned, however, Ubu immediately begins abusing his new authority; he denies Bordure Lithuania and imprisons him, kills the nobles and bankers for their money and titles, and then raises the taxes to absurd levels and violently collects them in person. Bordure escapes to Russia, and gets Tsar Alexis to declare war on Poland to get rid of Ubu. But as Ubu prepares to fight the Russians, Bougrelas, the last surviving son of Venceslas, is preparing a revolt of his own, to free Poland from Ubu and avenge his family...

* BigLippedAligatorMoment: When dogpiling King Venceslas, one of Ubu's paladins "explode".

Ubu Roi evolved out of a schoolboy joke between Jarry and his friends, making fun of his physics teacher, Hébert; "Ubu" is likewise a distortion of "Hébert". His friends moved on, but Jarry continued and refined it, and it became ''Ubu Roi'', a bizarre, comical play full of VulgarHumor and idiosyncratic language, parodying {{Theatre/Macbeth}}. When it was first staged at the Théâtre de l'Œuvre in 1896, it offended the audience enough to cause a riot, leading it to be banned for a while.