"Ubu The King definitely exceeded my expectations. Going from a play that I have never really heard of, to being an integral part of my final year studies of course brought its challenges. Researching the origins of Ubu The King before I started my recordings shed some light on the history of the play. The first performance was met with riotous response in Paris due to the city’s political state at the time, and the fact that the first word of the play is “Merde!” which translates into English as “Shit!”. In 1896 it wouldn’t really have been the social norm to start a play with this. All of this shows just how strong the play’s main themes of; treason, tyranny and jealousy really are. Then again the play being performed in Poland in 2003, right after the fall of communism, shows just how substantial the play's political insights are."

"The performance in Belfast in 2019 is fitting due to the political instability that we have with; Brexit, no government in Stormont and a lot of boarder talks. Contrasting the conflict that we have here in Northern Ireland was fascinating. Being able to bring parts of the play to life in my two- minute piece was a challenging task but a challenge which I relished. I chose to do a podcast for my two-minute piece because I felt that I could give all the information needed to show the relationship between the conflict in the play, and the conflict here in Northern Ireland. I have panned a very contrasting part of the play in 360. The shift in emotions and dynamics of Ubu and the kitchen staff really amplify the unsteadiness and unease within the kitchen or the instability in Ubu’s own mind. I placed various loud crashes as Ubu drops the kitchen equipment around the listeners head as part of my binaural mixing. These loud crashes and spills would perhaps remind listeners of difficult times in Northern Ireland, such as the troubles in the 70s and 80s."

 

Credits for Ubu the King

Creator Patrick J O'Reilly and Ensemble

Producer Jen Shepherd

Music Katie Richardson

Design Ciaran Bagnall 

Cast Claire Connor, Jo Donnelly, Tony Flynn, Julie Lewis and Rhodri Lewis

Image credits: Photos by Ciaran Bagnall