Most licensing houses offer a "perusal copy." This is a watermarked PDF sent instantly to your email so you can read the play before deciding to license it.

, which involves a plot to murder the King of Poland, Szymkowicz's version focuses on the internal world of a power-mad CEO. : Absurdist, comedic, and grotesque.

Tip: Visiting these platforms allows you to read free "perusal" pages, which usually feature the first 10 to 15 pages of the text. 2. The Playwright's Official Website

Despite his immense wealth, Ubu reveals a profoundly tragic and deeply funny isolation. He lives completely within his own bubble, flashing between intense arrogance—demanding the audience clap for his terrible poetry—and sudden bursts of childish vulnerability regarding his unhappy upbringing. 3. The Absurdity of Power

Adam Szymkowicz’s Ubu is a timeless, terrifying, and hilarious mirror held up to our own society. Get the legal PDF, cast your bravest actors, and remember: Merdre! (Just don't spell it that way in your program notes).

Szymkowicz is celebrated for writing dialogue that is rhythmic, punchy, and deceptive in its simplicity. In Ubu , the language breaks down alongside the political order. Characters speak in contradictions, non-sequiturs, and exaggerated declarations, highlighting how authoritarians distort truth and language to maintain control. Performance and Production Considerations

To understand Szymkowicz's "Ubu," it's essential to familiarize oneself with the original work that inspired it. Alfred Jarry's "Ubu Roi" is a play that defies traditional narrative structures, instead embracing a surreal, absurdist approach that pokes fun at the conventions of drama and the societal norms of its time. The story revolves around the titular character, Ubu, a crude, expletive-ridden, and decidedly unheroic figure who rises to power through a series of bizarre and often disturbing events.

The style demands high-energy, physical comedy, clowning, and a willingness to embrace the grotesque. Think of it as a cross between a Saturday morning cartoon and a political thriller.

hosts several key monologues from the play, including "How I became King of the Great Expanding Universe" and "Ubu does not want your pity". New Play Exchange : Szymkowicz is a member of the New Play Exchange (NPX)

is "unrepentantly distant" from the original's letter, though it remains faithful to its spirit. The play uses monologues—such as Ubu’s reciting of "Ode to a Field of Daisies"—to engage the audience directly, often mocking them for their lack of applause or their perceived "pity". This immersive approach, described by reviewers at Time Out New York

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Critics and audiences generally praise the work for its daring, unconventional nature:

At its heart, Ubu is a solo play that invites the audience into the deranged palace of the King of the Great Expanding Universe, a character who is both a tyrannical monarch and an über-CEO. The plot is not a linear narrative but a series of grotesque, hilarious, and often shocking vignettes. The audience is granted the “privilege” of watching Ubu eat steak, a surprisingly central and mesmerizing action that the playwright himself promises is “fun to watch”. Along the way, the King might play music, recite poetry, boast of his purchased politicians, and mourn his lost loves.