Ubu Roi

Review by Louise Harrison

Want to know the funniest event of the century? Well, I’m thinking root vegetables, silly balloon fights and, uh, more root vegetables! I’m thinking great actors, side-splitting humour and a crazy party scene in which Mr Hammet was seen dancing on the stage. I’m thinking: UBU ROI!

Yes, that’s right. Ubu Roi, an exceptionally distant French derivative of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, more commonly known as the play with the silliest paper crowns ever. It begins with a reporter (Sophie Cotterill) “going undercover to find out more” about the fishy goings between the King and the Ubus(Noah Tyler/Joe Torrible, Staph Baines/Isabel Price): seemingly loyal subjects to his majesty the king (Lucy Reynolds/Fergus Bowen), who are actually planning on taking over the throne. They succeed in their quest at the “Posh Parade”, also taking down the incredibly stupid Princes Willy and Silly but the Queen (Jessica Webb/Helena Turner) and Prince Billikins (Ingrid Counsell, Lauren Holland) escape. They proceed to retake the throne, crowning Billikins as King, with help from the “revolting” peasants and a lot of root vegetables.

The play certainly was entertaining; the audience was in hysterics for the entire performance and everyone emerged with a smile on their face. It was a great success, especially for directors Miss Powell and Miss Kenzie, whose hard work proved the play worthwhile.

Up the Ubus!