Ubu Collecting Taxes from Peasants

In 1966, David Hockney was asked by Ian Cuthbertson from the Royal Court theatre in London to design the stage sets and costumes for Ubu Roi, the famous play by Alfred Jarry, which had already so much influenced the Surrealist artists. Ubu Roi was the first stage design the artist executed and he revelled in the experience as he later recalled: "You can invent lots of things because Jarry gives lots of instructions: Don't bother about scenery [...]. It was fun doing it" (D. Hockney, quoted in N. Stangos, David Hockney by David Hockney, London, 1976, p. 103).