''Caesar Antichrist'' (french: César-Antéchrist) is a short 1895 play by the French writer
Alfred Jarry
Alfred Jarry (; 8 September 1873 – 1 November 1907) was a French symbolist writer who is best known for his play ''Ubu Roi'' (1896). He also coined the term and philosophical concept of 'pataphysics.
Jarry was born in Laval, Mayenne, France, ...
. The third act is an early version of Jarry's next play, ''
Ubu Roi
''Ubu Roi'' (; "Ubu the King" or "King Ubu") is a play by French writer Alfred Jarry, then 23 years old. It was first performed in Paris in 1896, by Aurélien Lugné-Poe's Théâtre de l'Œuvre at the Nouveau-Théâtre (today, the Théâtre de P ...
''; the main character of which, Père Ubu, appears here as the
Antichrist
In Christian eschatology, the Antichrist refers to people prophesied by the Bible to oppose Jesus Christ and substitute themselves in Christ's place before the Second Coming. The term Antichrist (including one plural form) 1 John ; . 2 John . ...
. This play begins with a startling sequence of images of garbled Christianity from which Ubu emerges as the new Messiah. Scholar
Kimberly Jannarone
Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to:
Places and historical events
Australia
* Kimberley (Western Australia)
** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley
* Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania
* Kimberley, Tasmania a small town
* County of Kimberley, a c ...
argues the play was 'not intended for the stage' and is Jarry's own form of 'the theatre of the book'.
While not a
closet drama
A closet drama is a play that is not intended to be performed onstage, but read by a solitary reader or sometimes out loud in a large group. The contrast between closet drama and classic "stage" dramas dates back to the late eighteenth century. Al ...
, Jannarone argues this might be its closest lineage, and can be considered within a tradition of works ranging from the '
Platonic dialogues
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
and
Senecan tragedies through Milton’s
Samson Agonistes
''Samson Agonistes'' (from Greek Σαμσών ἀγωνιστής, "Samson the champion") is a tragic closet drama by John Milton. It appeared with the publication of Milton's '' Paradise Regained'' in 1671, as the title page of that volume sta ...
, Byron’s
Manfred
''Manfred: A dramatic poem'' is a closet drama written in 1816–1817 by Lord Byron. It contains supernatural elements, in keeping with the popularity of the ghost story in England at the time. It is a typical example of a Gothic fiction.
Byr ...
, and Villiers de l’Isle-Adam’s Axewhich'.
Production history
The play was not produced in Jarry's lifetime, and as Jannarone notes, 'almost no one attempts to stage it.'
The Australian Live Performance Database lists a performance at
Rusden State College
Victoria College was a College of Advanced Education (CAE) in Melbourne, Australia. It was created as a result of the merger on 23 December 1981 of the State College of Victoria colleges at Burwood, Rusden and Toorak with the Prahran College o ...
in Melbourne, from 10–12 November 1978, which was performed by students in the first-year undergraduate course Drama-110.
The world premiere of James Beirman's original translation (revised by the translator) took place at the
University of California Santa Cruz
The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located on Monterey Bay, on the edge of ...
in March 2005.
The ''Santa Cruz Sentinel'' noted, "Caesar Antichrist is both a strange and unusual play and a riotous and ribald production. It's not a show that is likely to be produced again (ever, anywhere), so if you want to experience patapyhsical apocalyptic theatre, this is probably your only chance'.
See also
*
1895 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1895.
Events
*January – The Ottoman illustrated magazine '' Servet-i Fünun'' is taken over by Tevfik Fikret, who turns it into a vehicle for ''Edebiyat-ı Cedide ...
*
19th-century French literature
19th-century French literature concerns the developments in French literature during a dynamic period in French history that saw the rise of Democracy and the fitful end of Monarchy and Empire. The period covered spans the following political re ...
References
Further reading
* {{Cite book, last=Bierman, first=James Henry, year=1967, title=A reader's guide to César-Antéchrist: a fresh look at the theatre of Alfred Jarry, publisher=
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
1895 plays
Plays by Alfred Jarry