Geoff Dunbar's Ubu was a coarse, short animation that managed to catch the punk sensibilities of its time and got some attention. The inkblot artwork resembled Gerald Scarfe's, who had come to prominence in Private Eye and elsewhere, and who was reaching new audiences with his work with Pink Floyd.
Alfred Jarry's work was also going through one of its periodic rediscoveries at the time, and his play Ubu Roi, with its Shakespearean echoes, scatological humour and brutish characters fitted a Britain roiled with strikes, financial crises and conflict. Dunbar's animation was timely, with comments on the politics of the time hidden behind its portrayal of medieval Poland, and with some smart work in terms of the animation, and the distorted voices. As I recall, it even made it onto the television, I think on the Arena arts programme on BBC2.
Dunbar obviously got it all out of his system with this, as he went on to do Rupert Bear and Peter Rabbit.
Alfred Jarry's work was also going through one of its periodic rediscoveries at the time, and his play Ubu Roi, with its Shakespearean echoes, scatological humour and brutish characters fitted a Britain roiled with strikes, financial crises and conflict. Dunbar's animation was timely, with comments on the politics of the time hidden behind its portrayal of medieval Poland, and with some smart work in terms of the animation, and the distorted voices. As I recall, it even made it onto the television, I think on the Arena arts programme on BBC2.
Dunbar obviously got it all out of his system with this, as he went on to do Rupert Bear and Peter Rabbit.
