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Ubu Roi

I hardly dare turn around! Ah! That's go...

Overview

Character
Gender
Male
Playing Age
Adult
Style
Dramatic
Act/Scene
Act Four, Scene Four
Time & Place
A chaotic, muddy battlefield in the Ukraine during a frantic military engagement against the Russian forces.
Length
Medium
Time Period
Classical
Show Type
Play
Age Guidance
Mature Audiences (M)

Context

Text

I hardly dare turn around! Ah! That's good. He’s a sitting target. That’s it, Poles, give him a good kicking! He’s got a broad back, the poor sod! No, I don’t dare watch. All the same, our prediction was spot on. The physics-stick worked marvels. There’s no doubt that I would have completely killed him if an inexplicable terror had not come upon me and annulled in us the effects of our courage. But we had to suddenly turn tail, and owe our preservation only to our riding skills and to the solidity of the hocks of our Horse of Phynances, whose speed is equalled only by its strength, and whose agility is famous, and also to the depth of the moat which was fortunately in the path of the enemy of those here present, Mister Finance. All of which is very beautiful, but no one’s listening to me. Let’s go! Here we go again!

Alfred Jarry, King Ubu (Ubu Roi), Trans. Patrick Wittacker, Smashwords, 2007. https://www.patakosmos.com/database-open-access/king-ubu-alfred-jarry.pdf

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