The Stage

King Ubu
Brockley Jack Theatre
There is a toilet on the set of this rowdy farce and before long, Pa Ubu, a fat greedy blusterer with an appetite for power is straining to use it. This sets the tone for the crude, lewd antics that follow – battles may be fought and won but indignity is never far away.

Alfred Jarry's absurdist play about a Polish soldier who seizes the throne is freshly translated by Philip Graham, who also directs. The dialogue is full of expletives and the action is a surreal mix of violence and playfullnes, with kitchen utensils used as weapons of war and ghosts in the crypt playing golf.

Caricatures are luridly well observed. Rob Crouch's Pa Ubu is a bullying but cowardly buffoon, Charity Trimm's Ma Ubu is a shrewish harpy and Neil Edmond minces and swashbuckles with idiotic vigour through his double role as McFetid and Buggerov.

The Show makes the most of its pub setting – by the end, Pa Ubu's spell of power seems like a drunken fantasy. Fast-paced and boisterously silly, this show defies expectations and never lapses into a dull moment.

Alison Mercer