Come one, come all, to our natural amphitheatre of rock and water (aka the Gorge) for a larger-than-life puppet extravaganza based on Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi: a wild satire of power and greed from nineteenth-century France, updated here for modern-day Launceston.
It’s a rollicking tale for the times—the story of a raging buffoon and wannabe dictator on a revolutionary rampage. ‘And it’ll be bigger than Ben Hur,’ says Festival Dad Brian Ritchie. But with more puppets and stuff, including performances by the local Launnie community and live music by Ritchie and his musical mates.
GETTING TO KING UBU
Free Bus
Coming from town? Your best bet is to jump aboard our free buses. They depart the Brisbane Street bus stop outside Launceston College—look for our big, colourful sign—every 20 minutes from 6pm onwards. Return buses depart from the Tiger bus stop at the First Basin car park. Last return departs at 10pm.
Drive
Park your car at West Launceston Primary School (on the oval) then trot down the road to the Gorge. Available from 6–10pm. Enter at 24 Basin Road, West Launceston.
Director: Sam Routledge
Musical Director: Brian Ritchie
Writer / Dramaturg: Willoh S. Weiland
Sound Artist: Dylan Sheridan
Musical Arrangements: Dean Stevenson
Band: Dean Stevenson, Emily Sanzaro, Spike Mason and Yyan Ng
Puppet Maker: Bryony Anderson
Stage & Lighting Design: Additive
Costume Designer: Sabio Evans
Onesie Designer: Adele Varcoe
Cast: Kris McQuade, John Xintavelonis, Denni Proctor, Marcus McKenzie, Anna Barber, Lucy McDonald and Lauren Neal
Puppeteers: Felicity Horsley, Shannon McGurgan, Sofie Burgoyne and Rachel Arianne Ogle
Performers: Allstar Cheer and Dance, City of Launceston RSL Band, Encore Theatre Company, Launceston College, Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre’s Youth and palawa kani Language Programs
Props: Denni Proctor and Gabbee Stolp
Sound Engineer: Tom McKeand
Lighting Operator: Michelle Thorne
Producers: MONA FOMA and Insite Arts
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Department of Communications and the Arts’ Festivals Australia program and the City of Launceston Event Sponsorship Program
King Ubu is an original adaptation of the play Ubu Roi by Alfred Jarry (translated from French by Simon Watson Taylor and Cyril Connelly). Ubu Roi has been reproduced by permission of the estate of the author c/o Rogers, Coleridge & White Ltd.