Restaging Ubu and the truth commission

This play is a collaboration between writer Jane Taylor, artist William Kentridge, and Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler of the Handspring Puppet Company (who brought War Horse to England's National Theatre). The main protagonist is based on the scandalous character, Ubu, created by the surrealist poet, Alfred Jarry. The play is more than just a dramatisation of evil in a contemporary South African context. With humour and insight, Taylor has skilfully woven Jarry's themes of ultra-violence, conceit, cowardice and self-pity with revelations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The text is illustrated with photographs from the original performance, Kentridge's drawings and notes from the director, the writer and the puppeteers on staging the performance, all of which makes this book excellent teaching material.