Chicago’s Rough House Theater is taking their production of Ubu the King on tour and will be in Pittsburgh for one night only as part of their 8 city tour! This Sunday, July 31st, Mike Oleon’s adaptation of Alfred Jarry’s 1896 Ubu Roi will be performed by a cast of puppeteers at Spirit Lounge in Lawrenceville. “We are really excited to be taking Ubu out on the road, and pumped to be coming back to Pittsburgh and Spirit in particular.” said Claire Saxe, Rough House Managing Director; Ubu performer & dramaturge. “Pittsburgh has such a great arts scene, it’s such a friendly, involved community of people. It is really a treat for us to get to step into that for a night, once a year.”

Photo Credit: Joe Mazza

 In this retelling of Jarry’s surreal, absurd story Pa Ubu “murders, lies, and farts his way up to the Polish throne”. The show features the original music and over 60 handcrafted puppets meticulously designed by Grace Needleman. “I think puppetry is an ideal medium for Ubu. It’s a play about cruel, disgusting, horrible people and the things they do to achieve power,” said Director Mike Oleon. “The play is largely inhabited with their very endearing and soft-bodied victims. Puppetry allows you to get away with a lot more carnage and torture on stage than audiences would ever be able to tolerate from human actors.”

The show starts a 9:00 p.m. and there is a suggested donation of $10.

Photo Credit: Joe Mazza

Rough House Theater is a non-profit theater company based in Chicago that is “committed to connecting individuals and communities through art that celebrates the weird things that make us unique, and the weirder things that bring us together”.

Categories: Feature