The first night of the last weekend ...

... was nuts on the Ubu side. Absolutely nuts. From looking at these shadowy onlookers near the beginning of the evening--

--you probably would not guess that they would be our wildest audience yet. They took the notion of "play" to unprecedented extremes; several of us seriously worried we might have a riot on our hands. NOT the kind of riot Ubu provoked in its first incarnation, when people thought it went too far, but the kind of riot where they were eager to go even farther than we were willing to. Trust me, the place looked like a frat house after a beer blast by the time we (er, they) were done.

As the Carnival Barker, I am partly responsible for the mayhem, because I gave these otherwise innocent-looking folks the very weapons they would soon use against us. (Ever been shot in the face with a Nerf dart?) But I don't think I added that much more to the mix last night than usual. These people just felt like getting rowdy. Spring fever, perhaps? And don't assume it was younguns--the oldest two people in the crowd were the ringleaders.

Ironically, we had originally thought this level of madness might transpire every night, and then when it didn't, we started to take for granted that all future Ubu viewers would be polite and respectful and suss out the unspoken etiquette of our unusual setup. But no!

Me, I thought the whole affair was fascinating as a study in mob psychology. (As Ma Ubu put it after the show, "I've never been on the receiving end of a 'Power to the people!' chant before this.") Then again, I wasn't the one getting pelted with plastic paratroopers and dodging 70 exploding confetti bomblets.

What will tonight's final (and already long sold-out) performance bring? Stay tuned!

Transhumans, tweets, games without frontiers, and the joys of turning in your fellow citizens

Time for another collection of items that caught my attention recently because of their connection to aspects of WoyUbu:



•This hourlong episode of the public radio show To the Best of Our Knowledge devoted to computers is a must for anyone interested in the ramifications of techno-culture. I recommend the interviews with Lawrence Lessig, one of the founders of Creative Commons, on copyright issues raised by mash-ups and other digital art; Sherry Turkle of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self on the ways in which we are developing relationships with personal robotic devices; and sociologist James Hughes, executive director of the World Transhumanist Association, on the quest to merge human flesh with computer technology in search of immortality and/or "transhuman" interspecies breeding; plus a couple of quick mash-ups by GirlTalk and DJ Spooky. But the real treat for Ubu-ites is surely the segment on video game designer Jason Rohrer; I have no idea how well known he is among those in the know, but his work sounds pretty remarkable and far beyond the average computer game. (Here's Passage, about mortality, and Between, a game about dreams and "stale evidence" of the Other. And here's Rohrer's homepage, which contains links to more games and all kinds of other stuff.)



•Much of what Rohrer says about games is echoed in intriguing ways in this brief segment from another public radio show on Peg Tyre's book The Trouble with Boys, and specifically its take on violent fantasy in video games (like the one in our Ubu). In a nutshell, Tyre argues that such games can potentially serve a beneficial role as an outlet for natural tendencies. She, like Rohrer, has much to say about the essence of "play" in the lives of both adults and children.

•This is the funniest (and smartest) thing I've ever encountered about the phenomenon of Twitter and Facebook status udpates. Three cheers for Brian Unger!

•Finally, courtesy of BoingBoing, an ad campaign from the London police urging citizens to report suspicious activity:

Cory Doctorow notes the "stupidity" of

the idea that you should report your neighbors to the police for looking at the creepy surveillance technology around them. This is the first step in making it illegal to debate whether the surveillance state is a good or bad thing.

Perhaps this weekend I will encourage the Ubu audience to report any Woyzeck spectators they catch staring at the surveillance cameras aimed at them ...

Ubu from the audience's perspective

Tonight's performance was pretty hoppin'--thanks in large part to the crowd. And talk about crowded! We turned away at least 20 people, and crammed about twice as many people into the Ubu/"Play" side as we've ever done before. (If you're planning to attend next weekend, be sure to reserve your tickets ASAP!) Here's a small portion of the Ubu-ites, just before the show:



Tonight I passed a camera around and asked these lovely folks to shoot whatever they wanted. Alas, the batteries died about 15 minutes into the show, but here are a few examples of what they found photoworthy during that time:








Later in the show some of these same folks, and many other Ubu audience members, provided live Twitter updates of what was unfolding before them (or in their sordid imaginations). You can read what they wrote here (I think).

Live from our second Friday night show!

Here we are, live on the Ubu side of the wall, during our 3rd performance. Going well, so far, I'd say. Well, things are not looking so good for Pa Ubu or Woyzeck, but that's none of our concern. Let's hear what the Ubu audience has to say thus far:



FREE CANDY!! - Catherine Willett

Definitely choose the "playing" side... mad fun. - Matt Uebbing

Playing drinking games with my son on the "action" side...fun! CHRIS UEBBING

I ... I saw a bear lose its head! - Christopher Schobert

who wants to play Super Ubu Smash Brothers? the playing side does ... Jared Mobarak

You like that don't you? Adam Boyle

Boggerlas is h-o-t-t hot ~Stacey Kromer

The robots are awesome!! Brandon Passno

Opening night players, live from the Ubu side!

Check them out--what a lovely bunch!

Now let's hear what they think of the show so far...
(We're about halfway through now.)

This is my second time seeing The Real Dream Cabaret, and I always like their act. The characters are wonderfully weird, deranged, but also very endearing. The technology of the production is pretty awesome, the idea of two shows running at the same time. When given the choice between Play or No Play, choose Play. -Michael

As a first time viewer of this show it is interesting to know that you are able to watch the show at a different angle. There are actually two shows at once which makes you want to see both sides of the spectrum, The actors adapt to the changes and audience interaction quite well and are very aware of their surroundings. -Justin

LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD.
-Ariel

WoyUbu is definitely a new theatrical experience for me. The question: "Watch or play," at the ticket desk really set the tone, and I think it should be seen from both ways. Ubu-world is great fun... But as far as the serious side of things, I have very little idea of what is going on in the other space, and I'm sure it's a completely different experience! -Kelsey


As for those who "play," they get a live experience of the inner workings of WOYZECK's mind, while watching his reality play out. Likewise, those who "watch" get to experience WOYZECK'S reality while watching his mind play out. The "players" get to take part in a nerf gun war, video game action, sword fights, a radio show, on screen filming, while nippling on treats...It's an experience one will likely not forget....

-Collin