The Trial of Ubu review, Hampstead Theatre Upstairs

Global atrociteeth

What sets The Trial of Ubu apart, is the production itself. The play is funny and clever but would fall completely flat, one suspects, without Katie Mitchell's imaginative direction and Lizzie Clachan's fabulous set. The watch is far superior to the listen, though Paul Clark's spare soundscape is pretty impressive too.

The Trial of Ubu begins with a crude and magical puppet show where the self-fellating Ubu has a Macbeth like conversion to violence at the behest of Mrs Ubu who's romancing his right-hand man. Puppets in the throes of passion are good sport in both the bedroom and the killing fields. Having dispatched the King, Ubu embraces power with bloody relish. 115 years later, by a quirk of the fates, he's in the dock at the International Criminal Court being tried for war crimes.

Simon Stephens play is in turns interesting and shocking. It is also current. What we see here is the juxtaposition of terror with the workings of a court where the minutiae of mass murder is delivered with forensic care in the tone of a tennis umpire. We are pitched the fine detail from two interpreters for scene after scene where it's the light touches - the seasonal wardrobe changes, the colds, the distractions and the dieting - that progress the action.

In conclusion: The three box set is used beautifully. Nikki Amuka-Bird and Kate Duchene are spot on as the interpreters mediating a rosary of atrocities until it wears them down. At ninety minutes it finishes just before you start to fret.

References
Tickets from Hampstead Theatre

Hampstead Theatre is on Eton Avenue, Swiss Cottage, London NW3 3EU. This production is now over.