UBU SUX
Te Auaha, 65 Dixon St + Livestream online, Wellington
17/11/2020 - 19/11/2020
Production Details
Whitireia stage and screen students turn the trials of 2020 into bold, riotous theatre.
It’s citizen versus everything in this totally original, entirely reimagined adaptation of Alfred Jarry’s classic avant-garde satire Ubu Rex. Whitireia Stage & Screen presents: Ubu Sux (live at Te Auaha, 17-19 November), a riotous dark comedy from 1896 with political resonances for 2020.
Grotesque, ridiculous and deeply profound, this irreverent adaptation of Ubu Rex draws from a huge range of source material to amplify the messages from Jarry’s original narrative. The live show is multimedia in every respect, with Ubu Sux also being live-streamed to devices all over the world including this year’s Melbourne Fringe, one of a huge number of arts’ festivals to adapt to 2020’s restrictions on physical gatherings and embrace digital delivery.
Director Paula van Beek says that the students are loving the chance to explore working with technologies that look set to become commonplace in the future. “To be training here and now is to be at the cutting edge of what a ‘new normal’ of live performance could look like in Aotearoa and around the world. Whitireia Stage & Screen is seizing this opportunity to explore live streaming technology that can help share our stories.”
How we’re manipulated to hear, believe and pay attention to people in positions of power is at the heart of Ubu Sux. The show asks some hard questions about ‘the economy of influence’ and the effect it is having on young people all over the world. This new adaptation aims to dissolve some of the unconscious bias that’s templated into decisions about which stories get told.
“When I initially took a translation of Ubu Rex to the company, they articulated some really clear concerns about what it would mean to choose a play that gives a revolting character like Pa Ubu so much limelight. And that was a really exciting moment. Even though Jarry’s Ubu plays are satirical, the students pointed out that airtime is still airtime – even if you are poking fun. We decided to explore how Pa Ubu could be muted, side-lined or ignored to allow the other characters in the play to have a chance to speak and tell their stories. We wanted lots of different perspectives represented.”
The cast and crew are excited to explore different points of view – not only of the characters but also of how audiences can see the work, whether that’s in the theatre at Te Auaha, or through live-stream or on-demand digital viewing.
“Rehearsals are rocking and we’re having way too much fun taking back the attention from patriarchal power” says van Beek. “But we can’t wait to bring these new characters, new perspectives and brand-new original songs to life for other people. They could be in the room with us, at home watching online, or in the cinema at Te Auaha seeing the show beam in from next door to the big screen… we’ll know they’re there and feel the connection. I wonder how different their experiences will be?”
Te Auaha, 65 Dixon St, Te Aro, Wellington
17 November – 19 November 2020, 7pm
Thursday 19 November 2020, 1pm matinee
Watch Live / Watch in our On-Site Cinema / Watch at Home
TICKETS & STREAMING INFO FROM WWW.TEAUAHAEVENTS.COM
THE COMPANY
Casper Colville – Alfred Jarry, Nicolas Rensky, Boleslas
Newala Shuiabee – Citizen Reporter
Ruby Carter – Pa Ubu
Caleb Pedro – Ma Ubu
Genoveva Reverte Neal – Captain ManNure
Graxe Hadfield – King Wenceslas of Poland, The Bear
Maea Shepherd – Palotin Cotice, Queen Rosemonde of Poland
Kealan Schmidt – Palotin Battery, Stanislas Leczinski
Bon Turner-Buchanan – Bougrelas, The Tsar Alexis, Subterranean noises, The Sea Captain
Ellie Springer – Palotin Lap, The Tsarina
Solomon Archer - General Lascy, Ladishlas, Michel Fédérovitch, Ubu's Conscience
The company also plays:
Nobles, Magistrates, Councillors, Financiers, Soldiers, Messengers, Peasants, The Whole Russian Army, The Whole Polish Army, The People of Poland
COMPOSERS
Reyne Robati: The Gloating Song and refrains
Clinton Zerf: The dedication madrigal, The Gluttony Song
Maea Shepherd: The Soldiers’ Song
CREW:
Parekawa Finlay – Stage Manager
Ryan Holtham – Set & Props and Mech Support
Renata Mahuika – Set & Props and Assistant Stage Manager
Victoria Gilmour – Costume and Make up
Kate Salisbury – Costume and Make up
Kit Marsh – Video footage / AV compilers and Camera operator
Zara Lawton – Video footage / AV compilers and Camera operator
Charleigh Griffiths – OBS digital ‘scenes’ design and Lighting operator
Jackson Burling – OBS digital ‘scenes’ design, Live-stream operator and sound mix
Alex Fox – Sound and sound effects complier/ Sound and AV operator
Theatre ,
Recognisably semi-coherent
Review by Melissa Bee 18th Nov 2020
As I enter Tapere Nui, I am faced with rows of empty theatre seats, where Newala Shuiabee (Citizen Reporter) sits scrolling on her phone, as we all tend to do before shows. (Immersive scene setting before shows seems to be a trend in Wellington, so remember to arrive early to get the full experience.) Her screen is projected behind her as she searches ‘protest’ and we see a cascade of stories featuring unrest from around the globe, spliced with videos and screenshots from TikTok, Twitter, and other social media.
When you see the news that we casually consume projected on a large screen, the results are quite horrifying. How are we just scrolling by such tragedy? Does technology encourage us to engage, or are we passively accepting the horrors of life and the powerful people who perpetrate them? Those are questions that the company of Whitireia Stage & Screen address in Ubu Sux, a re-interpretation of Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Rex, to varied levels of success.
I’m most excited to see how the group uses video and social media in their show. The show has three experiences: in-person, livestream at the theatre, and livestream from home. I’m in the in-person theatre, where the production incorporates the use of pre-recorded and live video, most successfully with live action streamed from Shuiabee’s phone. The fourth wall, however, remains firmly in place. Even when the actors address the audience in monologue, the emotional line is never crossed; I am aware of my role as observer.
My partner is watching from the livestream room, where overlays make it seem as if the audience is watching the news or YouTube videos, reflecting on the ways in which we are an audience in both theatre and, through social media, our real lives.
The performances in Ubu Sux are uneven and do not go far enough to uphold its farcical satire. Genoveva Reverte Neal (Captain ManNure) and Ellie Springer (Palotin Lap, the Tsarina) maintain the physicality and energy that the genre demands. With Maea Shepherd (Queen Rosemonde) and Bon Turner-Buchanan (Bougrelas), sincere acting shines but feels somewhat out of place. I’d definitely buy a ticket for their interpretation of the classics in the future, though. The rest of the cast, however, do not sustain the specificity in their movement or characters to maintain interest, making the pacing drag through the middle of the show.
The group’s best use of satire is at the end of the show, where the final song’s original text is sent through Google Translate, creating a semi-coherent version of Jarry’s stanzas. It is a perfect reflection of what I have just experienced: something I recognise and which has promise, but is in need of additional refinement before it can be truly understood and appreciated.
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