The Hidden Review: Bubu Killer King - Theatre Review

The Hidden Review has watched "Bubu Killer King" at Babolin Theatre, online theatre is odd, but, when executed well, it can be used to great effect. The challenge of an unknown medium poses a lot of opportunities, and Babolin Theatre takes this to the extreme in an exciting way. Bubu Killer King is ludicrous, absurd and comical, but much like a lot of Babolin's work, underneath this is a sharp satire, witty political commentary and a strong creative force. Bubu Killer King is essentially an unconventional interpretation of the Alfred Jarry classic 'Ubu Roi', and the banal absurdism of Jarry lends itself to a deconstructed theatre performance. At its core, it is a parody of Macbeth, which goes off the rails fairly quickly. The show is performed in solo performances which allow you to stumble your own way through the already confusing narrative of Ubu. While this presented an opportunity for differing perspectives and subplots, the story became hard to follow and confusing, but after all, this is Jarry and 'pataphysics, so a conventional three-act narrative was never on the menu.

The individual performances are generally good, and each scene adopts a different style, from cabaret to folk songs, mockumentary and director's cut the show is very meta and self-referential. Occasionally it gets a little too clever and steeped in irony, but on the whole, this works well. All in all, it is good to see theatre again, whatever form it takes. Babolin has undeniably worked hard to hold onto and capture the magic of theatre in new ways where the ones we are used to are no longer available. The show is undeniably innovative and creative, and it's good to know that political satire doesn't get put on hold by a pandemic, at a time when we must hold our politicians to account.

Hidden Fire stars 7/10 ⭐️

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