Showing @ Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 30 August (run ended)
This take on Alfred Jarry’s play Ubu Roi was first performed in 1998, its blend of animation, puppetry and performance casting a critical eye on South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation process. Now less proximate from the events it criticises, some of the play’s power is diminished, but it remains a fascinating and idiosyncratic piece of theatre.
Ubu lives in perpetual battle with his domineering wife. Every night he leaves and returns in the early hours, his partner convinced he is playing away. But Ubu is taking his pleasure in darker ways as, together with his three headed dog Brutus, he beats, abuses and tortures the enemies of the state.
When the commissions start and the harrowing testimonies begin, Ubu is full of regret and pity – unfortunately all of it for himself. As he seeks to hide his crimes or find absolution from the commission, his behaviour becomes more erratic and deranged.
In the title role, Dawid Minnaar is superb. Energised, wicked, engaging and repellent in equal measure and doing it all attired in just a vest and pants. He is matched by the powerful force of nature of Busi Zokufa as his wife, the interplay between the two serving as a perfect counterweight to the powerful stories of abuse and grief from the commission.
By having the testimony delivered through puppets, the audience is both drawn into the intimacy of their stories, but also gets a sense of their smallness in the face of this process. The use of genuine testimony rather than invented dialogue somehow makes the alien concept of forgiveness in exchange for contrition seem even more astonishing than it already is. Meanwhile, the other puppets – Ubu’s dog and a friendly crocodile – as well as the use of animation to show Ubu’s dark other life and his twisted mind ensure that this is a show show packed with creativity.
From a modern perspective we tend to see the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as one of the new South Africa’s more noble endeavours; this play shows that there are many who see it as lost opportunity for justice. Whilst time has taken away some of its initial sting, this is still a engaging and imaginative take on guilt and forgiveness.
Showing as part of the Edinburgh International Festival 2014