Ubu Roi
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Edwardsville, IL
Department of Theater and Dance
Ubu is probably one of the most repulsive characters in all of dramatic literature. He is a walking appetite in every sense of the word—greed, pride, envy, gluttony—all seven deadly sins rolled into one. The play is part farce, part satire, with a little Shakespeare parody sprinkled in for good measure. Most noticeably, it is littered with coarse and scatological humor. When the creative team began meetings with the director, he expressed a desire to create a different kind of world for a “bottom-feeder” like Ubu. It only made sense to set the play in one of the lowest and most disgusting of places—a sewer. He and I discussed that the inhabitants of this place had to be different as well. We were both struck by the cartoon-like illustrations in the script and wanted to costume the play in this same cartoon-like manner. I always enjoy when a director gives his designer a phrase that really expresses his vision of the play and its characters who, according to our director, should look like “Dr. Seuss on crack!”
So, in keeping with those ideas, the characters (or “Ubu Crewbu” as we call them) are not quite human but denizens of this different world, dressed appropriately for a world filled with sewage. Their outfits are fashioned from actual hazmat suits, trimmed with copper plumbing pipes. The trim and costume accessories are made from plumbing and bathroom materials--from PVC pipe to faucets; see how many you can find. While their costumes are made of the same material, each actor has a unique shape and different headgear to indicate different characters. Two additional challenges came up during early design meetings. The play is extremely physical, so whatever material was used for the piping that gives the costumes their shape could not be so rigid that the actors would be restricted in movement or hurt themselves when falling. Also, the set contains a large pool of water, so everything has to be waterproof. Considering that everything is made of plumbing supplies, this proved not to be a problem!