We get it: dictators are bad. Roughly assimilating Alfred Jarry’s 1896 uproarious Ubu Roi with modern politics, Kneehigh’s Ubu! should feel prescient, but this thrown-together singalong, surface-level satire chews on the current political situation with a lazy jaw.
Co-directors Carl Grose and Mike Shepherd have created a deranged few hours of theatrical karaoke. At the centre of the storm is Jeremy Wardle (played by Niall Ashdown), our pleasant host, and Mr Ubu (Katy Owen), our manipulative caricature of a villain. Both are energetic and engaging, but have a frail scaffold of a story to lean on. More panto than absurdist theatre, everything’s slapdash, with obvious jokes and tepid comparisons picked for easy laughs.
Standing around Michael Vale’s flurry of a set, we sing along to the Beatles, Carpenters and Adele, while the demonic Ubu pushes his way to power. The show’s glaringly unsubtle point is that we easily fall prey to distraction and humour rather than paying attention to the steps towards tyranny going on right in front of us. Though the band are suave, the songs are shallow choices, picked for their ability to be belted at full volume rather than for any real clarity of meaning.
Kneehigh are best at causing chaos, and it would be churlish not to note that the school groups seem to have a ball as their classmates are chosen for the mid-show games and fights, lapping up the double entendres and swaying along to the slower songs.
Made with the best of intentions, Ubu! tries to instil in us a sense of hope, but its tongue is dull, and the show lets itself down on its bland parodies and pedestrian politics.
At Shoreditch Town Hall, London, until 21 December. Then touring.
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