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Premiere and Near-Riot

When: 10 December 1896
Where: Nouveau-Théâtre (today Théâtre de Paris), 15, rue Blanche, Paris
Part of: Premiere of Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi causes a near-riot in Paris

The premiere of Ubu Roi on 10 December 1896 at Nouveau-Théâtre provoked a scandalous audience reaction, often described as a near-riot, due to its obscenity and unruliness.

Aurélien Lugné-Poe's Théâtre de l'Œuvre presented the play at Nouveau-Théâtre, 15, rue Blanche. Firmin Gémier, playing King Ubu, intoned the opening word "Merdre!" to an audience of traditionalists and avant-garde figures. The performance baffled and offended spectators with its unruliness and obscenity, a reaction commonly described as a near-riot.

Sources

Ubu Roi Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-20
Alfred Jarry Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-29
Théâtre de l'Œuvre Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-31

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.