Terrapin

King Ubu

Background image: Ma Ubu and Pa Ubu walk through a crowd of people gathering near a pool, children show excitement at the larger than life characters.
Credit: King Ubu in Cataract Gorge commissioned by MONA FOMA 2020. Image: Jesse Hunniford
In collaboration with MONA FOMA

When and What

  • Now
  • Public Space

Summary

  • Major free outdoor performance in MONA FOMA 2020
  • Featuring giant puppets, live music and mass community participation
  • Seen by over 7,500 people

Impact

  • Included performers from Launceston community groups
  • Key emerging artists involved have since worked with Terrapin, nationally and internationally
Two larger than life characters, Pa Ubu and Ma Ubu stand looking at one another, we see the back of Ma Ubu and the front of Pa Ubu. They are at a festival site on a bright sunny day, without anyone around them.
King Ubu in Cataract Gorge commissioned by MONA FOMA 2020. Image: Jesse Hunniford
Two giant puppets, one masculine, the other feminine, with bold makeup look off into the distance
King Ubu promotional shot, MONA FOMA. Image: Jesse Hunniford

Description

King Ubu: a larger-than-life puppet extravaganza in a natural amphitheatre of rock and water (aka Cataract Gorge).

Based on Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi, a wild satire of power and greed from nineteenth-century France, King Ubu was wickedly updated for a modern-day Launceston.

Pullout quote

King Ubu is community theatre at its most inclusive, spectacular and ambitious
– The Age
Ma Ubu and Pa Ubu walk through a crowd of people gathering near a pool, children show excitement at the larger than life characters.
King Ubu in Cataract Gorge commissioned by MONA FOMA 2020. Image: Jesse Hunniford

Interested in King Ubu?

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