The Exquisite Ubu project
In 1896, Alfred Jarry’s seminal play Ubu Roi was performed twice at a cafe in Paris. The play’s scatalogical humor and anti-realist style caused riots but was a formative moment in the avant garde theater. While the play derived from a schoolboy prank that was meant to mock Jarry's hated physics teacher, its’ craven, incompetent and gluttonous protagonist is seen as a stand-in for tyrants everywhere. Jarry’s savage and absurdist play is often read as a commentary on despotism.
Flash forward 130 years later, American injustice abounds. We feel the time is ripe for a revival of Ubu Roi.
A diverse group of 28 writers has revised Ubu Roi for our current political moment, using the Surrealist game of “Exquisite Corpse” — all of the writers were unaware of what the other participants were doing. Thus, we have created a script that reflects the concerns not just of a single writer, but of many.
What will the result of this experiment be?
Find out on May 1st, 2026 when An Exquisite Corpse of Ubu Roi will be performed as part of Fall of Freedom’s May Day call for acts of creative resistance.