Hobart and William Smith Theatre will open its 2026-27 campus season with a new translation of “Ubu the King,” a farce about tyranny, greed and unchecked power, with four performances Oct. 29-31 in Geneva.
Performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Oct. 29 and 30, and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, in McDonald Theatre at the Gearan Center for the Performing Arts, according to the colleges' announcement. Audiences are encouraged to wear costumes to the Halloween evening performance.
The production uses a new translation by Ingrid Keenan and is directed by theatre professor H. May. It begins a season organized around the theme of tyrants.
A new translation of Jarry's farce
French playwright Alfred Jarry introduced “Ubu the King” in 1896. The work is considered an early influence on the Theatre of the Absurd, with a world governed by distorted logic and language disconnected from meaning.
In Keenan's version, Ubu murders the King of Freeland, takes the crown, governs ineptly, declares war and is deposed. His weapons are lies, cruelty and selfishness rather than military skill.
Jarry originally wrote the play as a satire of a professor he disliked. The production retains its scatological humor, exaggerated language, marital quarrels, violence and greed. The colleges say Keenan's translation clarifies the intentionally convoluted plot and expands Freeland's imaginative world for contemporary audiences.
Accessibility and production team
Every performance will include integrated audio description, and the Saturday matinee will have American Sign Language interpretation. Assisted listening devices will be available at all performances.
Ed Hallborg is responsible for scenic and lighting design, Kelly Walker for sound, Katharine Tarkulich for costumes and Nicolas Shannon Savard for audio description.
Keenan is associate director for student enrichment in the colleges' Center for Teaching and Learning, overseeing the Writing Fellow, Study Mentor, Athletic Study Mentor and First Year Mentor programs. May joined HWS in 2013, chairs the Theatre Department and holds the Donald Harter humanities and social science professorship.
Ticket information is linked from the colleges' production announcement.
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