COMING from artists who have suffered under brutal regimes, absurd theatre is exciting; from these young Australians fresh from Canberra, it was faintly ridiculous.
The piece has been freely adapted from Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi plays by 21-year-old Matthew Aberline.
It starts with Aberline in drag (after the movie Priscilla Queen of the Desert cross-dressers seem to be among Australia's more popular exports) miming to the long-playing (or at least it seemed that way) version of I Will Survive before we eavesdrop on a plot by citizen Ubu (Tanya Hart, another cross-dresser) to kill the king.
Ubu is a pompous, cruel, and overwhelmingly stupid man who makes himself president by distinctly dodgy means. The play is an exploration of power and stupidity.
The trouble is, it ends up by exploring power in stupid ways - like in forcing members of the audience (picked at random) to play humiliating games.
On the grounds that Jarry insisted on stylised speech and crude pantomime as part of his bid to break 19th century theatrical conventions, it was hard to fault the acting.
