UBU KING

Ubu krol, 2003, 95'

Best Actress, PFF Gdynia 2003 - Katarzyna Figura

Jan Peszek (Ubu), Katarzyna Figura (Mere Ubu), Wojciech Siemion (Merdenpot), Olgierd Łukaszewicz (Bardior), Marek Walczewski (General Lascy),  Zofia Saretok ( Kapelan),  Krzysztof Kowalewski (Pissedoux)

Ubu, pleasing the mob and toadying to influential people, violently seizes power in the country under the slogans of the fight for freedom and democracy. His stupid and cruel rules follow only one principle – to make himself rich. Incited by foreign ambassadors, Ubu goes to war with the Russian Tsar and loses. Consequently, the people banish Ubu and his wife and, overthrown, they hide in a neighboring country.

Alfred Jarry (1873–1907) was a French writer born in Laval, Mayenne, France, not far from the border of Brittany; he was of Breton descent on his mother's side, a fact which would have a profound impact on some of his writings.

Best known for his play Ubu Roi (1896), which is often cited as a forerunner to the theatre of the absurd, Jarry in fact wrote in a bewildering variety of genres and styles: he was at one and the same time a playwright, novelist, poet, essayist, and speculative journalist. His texts present some pioneering work on the general theme of the "absurdity of existence". (www.wikipedia.org)