AUTHOR: Raúl Hernández Garrido

TITLE: Gestas de Papá Ubú

DIRECTOR: Paco Maciá (in association with Isabel Úbeda).

DATE AND PLACE: 24^th November 2005, L’ Altre Espai.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE.

UBÚ: It is called “dad Ubú”. He is a despot, selfish, wicked, perverse and childlike character. He is small and bald. He walks irregularly around the scene emitting strange and inhuman sounds and his voice tone is uncomfortable. He does not speak very well and changes the order of words and letters. He is the main character in this play and he seems aggressive and repulsive. He does not have common sense and he is guided by his instincts. His relationship with “Monomonarca” is good and he is only interested in his wife, “Mamá Ubú”, for sex.

MUM UBÚ: She seems to be a woman who performs in the play for her interest. She is a middle-aged woman. Her hair is curly and dyed. She wears a red dress which is something ragged. Her behaviour is totally incorrect. She does not appear a polite woman. She moves on stage restlessly. Her way of speaking is unsuitable and her voice tone is uncomfortable, like Ubú. She always flatters her husband to get something. She knows how she has to do it because Ubú desires her. For this reason, she asks him to kill “Monomonarca” to be the king again. She does not fall in love with Ubú. She has a lover called “Mennón” and they together want to demonstrate against Ubú.

MENNÓN: He is the lover of Mum Ubú. He seems to be an attractive, selfish and vain man who wears dark clothes. He asks Mum Ubú to convince Ubú to get the throne. They will fight together to get “the Republic”.

MONOMONARCA: He is the king of the kingdom. He is a strong man. His hair is long and his way to speak is outstanding because of his English accent. A soldier accompanies him. He is very kind to Ubú because he has all that Monomonarca wants. Ubú thinks that he has killed him, but he reappears at the end of the play as a capitalistic man who wants to benefit from underdeveloped countries.

SOLDIER: It is performed by a woman. He simply responds to the orders from “Monomonarca” and he seems aggressive, efficient and disagreeable.

CONSCIENCE: It is Ubú’s conscience. He is the only performer which possesses common sense in the play. He is the tallest, bald and he wears glasses and nappies. All the time he is giving advices to Ubú. He wants him to do all the things very well, but Ubú tries to ignore him. His voice tone is soft and pleasant.

PEOPLE: They are a group of persons who wants to demonstrate against Ubú because of being a tyrant. They are hungry and their voice tone is beseeching.

SECONDARY PERFORMERS: Nobles, judge, a dancer, “Mandamás”, “Palotín” and “alto cargo compartido”.

SPACE: It is represented the street, people who is demonstrating, a wc, a meeting and Dad Ubú’s home. All is very careless, very simple.

ILLUMINATION: It is scarce. The darkness predominates on stage.

COSTUME: It is very simple, very careless.

ATTREZZO: A grating, a wc, a throne, some panel and a “ring” (to box).

AMBIENT: is very informal: Surprises, jokes and little seriousness.

PERSONAL OPINION

From my point of view, this play is totally a critic to reality. Characters represent a society similar to reality. Our society is represented by a tyrant who does not have a faith interest in making a better society. The only important is fame and fortune which he is able to get. I personally, do not like this play very much. It seems to me a play which lacks sense. Sometimes it is funny, for example, when Ubú says something with his incorrect language, but all the play does not seem to me very interesting. I think it is a little complicated to understand and its argument is not very attractive for the audience, although the topic this play represents is very important to be discussed.