In this essay, Wiles examines Jarry's play as a ground breaking work, what is considered by many to be the first drama in the Theatre of the Absurd.

It is highly doubtful that Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi will be performed on a high school stage any time soon. Why then subject it to academic scrutiny in a reference work aimed at the high school audience? The answer, quite simply enough, is because it was the first. In art, establishing a precedent is most important. Once Pere Ubu waddled to the middle of the stage and uttered his scandalous, foul-mouthed opening line, the theater could never be the same again. The entire dramatic experience had been fashioned into something new and different. Jarry opened a Pandora's box and neglected to close the lid.

Jarry rebelled, not only against the prevailing traditions and conventions of fin de siecle ("end...