Words of tribute to Alfred Jarry and "Doctor Oriol"

On the night of 10th December 1896, the spectators who attended the first showing of Ubú Rei, in Paris, opened their eyes in disbelief, having heard an imposing MERDRE! launched from the stage, followed by a strange dislocated farce with absurd dialogues and inexistent morals. It was more than that 'hygienic' audience could bear and they bellowed with indignation. As expected, few of the unsuspecting audience realised that they were attending a performance which was to mark a transcendental line in the future of contemporary theatre. Since then, the character invented by Jarry has had a long career in prostitution for the most diverse of purposes. This is probably because Ubú is everything and nothing in particular, because he has no era, no place, no history.

Transferred to today's reality, he could be Amin or Bokassa but why not Giscard or the office manager? He was also the teacher at little Jarry's school and later transmuted into the character he had created.

There's no doubt that today's audiences would quite calmly accept the once outrageous performance of 1896. These forms have been accepted to the point that even if kilos of Ubú-MERDRE were tipped onto the audience, it wouldn't be a surprise. In any case, the Public Health Department would be the only problem.

Ubú, however, has continued to survive. Maybe the majority of mankind is potentially an Ubú, with the exception of Hamlet, Segismundo or Manelic. From time to time one of these little men become uninhibited, display their personal Ubú, set up judicial apparatus, ministries, armies etc... and we start dancing for them!

This must have been the line of reasoning followed by Dr. Oriol when basing his psychodramatic therapy on this broad character, bringing out the great quantity of unconscious Ubú which the 'Supreme' carry inside so that by manifesting it in the clinic or on stage we save him from suffering in reality. It is certainly a task of civic-mindedness.

I'm convinced that a similar treatment applied to Hitler by a Dr Oriol of that time would have given a positive result for the whole of humanity. Of course, the principles of improvisation would have been different.
Perhaps a hundred or thousand lamb chops a day, disguised a Jews, which the patient could busy himself with, by roasting them in the oven; naming him professor of art and letting him touch up Picassos, Goyas, Vermeers with black paint.

In short, as expensive as those sessions could be, taking into account the price of the meat and the price of the original paintings, they could never compare with the price the world paid for this omission.

If 'Dr Oriol' cured his patient with Ubú and we try to reproduce those sessions today with our 'patient' spectators there will be no doubt that Ubú continues to be useful. It's probably just a matter of changing some details but I'm sure that in 1981 Jarry would know how to find the right ingredients to make a present day audience stand up with indignation. It could be, then, that it isn't Ubú but Jarry's own personal attitude that has endured the test of time and above all what we still need to stop us from dying of boredom.

Albert Boadella

 

CAST AND PRODUCTION LIST

Actors

STATISTICAL SUMMARY

Show only performed at Teatre Lliure in Barcelona