The UNC Wilmington theatre department wraps up their season with the bizarre new show, “Ubu Rex.”

“Ubu Rex” is a newly translated version of Alfred Jarry’s original work, “Ubu Roi,” an odd and comedic story about the fight for power in Poland. Pa Ubu’s outrageous wife persuades him to to overthrow the king of Poland. Pa Ubu finds himself in a battle for the crown when the former king’s son returns to avenge his father’s death.

“It’s a show that revolves around the rise and fall of Pa Ubu, or Ubu Rex,” director Ed Wagenseller said. “It deals with the dangers of power and greed, but in a comedic and absurd fashion.” 

His vision and direction for the show is “utter nonsense.”

The show, which premiered on April 3, is described by most of the cast as absolute craziness, but props and stage construction give the scenes a playground feel. 

The first thing the audience will notice when walking into the theatre is a wall with various shoes glued to it and a windmill stuck right at the top. On one side, leading up to a platform, is a staircase with wine bottle chimes hanging from the railing; the other side shows a slide that the cast runs up and slides down throughout the show. A battle with pool noodle swords and shopping cart horses also adds a lighthearted feel. 

The actors portray their characters with so much energy and personality, everything is over the top and melodramatic. 

“There’s never a break,”said Gary T. Moore, who plays Pa Ubu. “If you have to stop and think about the show, then we’ve lost you.” 

The cast and crew only had about three weeks to rehearse the hour-long show. The nonsensical nature often led the cast to encounter problems every now and then during the rehearsal period. 

“Every night there was a struggle how certain aspects of the show linked together, how certain scenes linked together, how to make all the dialogue work and the movement work within the dialogue,” Wagenseller said.  

Wagenseller even said that he felt a little intimidated coming into the show since he was not originally supposed to be the director. 

“The show isn’t really coherent, so you really can’t mess it up in a lot of respects,” Wagenseller said. 

Matt Taylor, who plays the character of Buggerlas, the son of the late king of Poland, says that even though this is his first and last show at UNCW, he has learned a lot from it. 

“This show goes against everything we’re taught in our acting class here. There’s no target work or need to speak,”  Taylor said. “It’s not vital because we’re making fun of theatre really.” 

It is the perfect show to follow up after the hit “We Are Proud To Present…” that took the Main Stage last month. 

“It’s such a huge transitions from a show dealing with racism and slavery,” said Moore, who was also involved in the previous show.  

“The show is nothing like [what] we have done here,” said Tommi Boltinghouse, who plays Queen Rosamand, the wife of the late king of Poland. “It’s completely different because we usually do realism, and this is definitely more presentational, so it’s a different look of what the theatre department can do.”

“I just want the audience to walk out thinking, ‘That was so much fun,’” Wagenseller said. “It’s the perfect show to close off the season. People don’t have to put a great deal of time to come in and see it. It’s right around exams, so it’s great for students to come and blow off steam.”