"Merdre" and its playfully theatrical, marionette-like performance style. Though Jarry affected an attitude of political indifference, his revolutionary ideas challenged assumptions about society, propriety, and existence. Brockett notes that "Ubu Roi shows in all its grotesqueness a world without human decency." In this lithograph announcement by Jarry for the premiere of Ubu Roi, the obese, tyrannical King Ubu appears as a shadow puppet with a segmented arm. He brandishes a scimitar in one hand and clutches a sack of gold in the other. Temporary Closures By 1899, the Théâtre de l’Oeuvre company had presented 51 programs and toured England, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Belgium. In spite of this success, Lugné-Poe had come to feel that the work of the Symbolists was juvenile and limiting to his artistic development. He closed the theatre company in 1899, marking an end to the first major phase of the anti-realism movement in European theatre. Lugné-Poe revived the enterprise on December 22, 1912, with a production of Paul Claudel's L'Annonce faite à Marie. Following that were several works by the Dadaist and Surrealist writers of the era. The group was off to a running start, but activity was interrupted again with the beginning of World War I in August 1914. Through their productions, tours, and critical reviews, the Théâtre de l’Oeuvre, under the direction of Lugné-Poe, had managed to influence "almost every departure from realism between 1893 and 1915." After the War, in 1919, Lugné-Poe reopened the Théâtre de l’Oeuvre--renaming the Salle Berlioz as the Théâtre de l’Oeuvre in the process--with financing from the actor Marcelle Frappa, and he ran the theatre continuously until his final retirement in 1929. Lucien Beer and Paulette Pax succeeded Lugné-Poe in 1929 and served as the theatre's directors until the beginning of World War II. Shortly after the conflict began, Hitler conquered France and the Vichy Regime under Jacques Hébertot made most theatres illegal in the occupied zone. After the Liberation of Paris in 1944, Raymond Rouleau rejoined Lucien Beer, and together they ran the theatre until 1951, when they were both replaced by Robert de Ribon. In 1960 Pierre Franck and Georges Herbert took over direction. They ran the theatre until 1978, when they were replaced by Georges Wilson as Artistic Director and principal scenic designer. He remained until 1995 when Gérard Maro, who had been Artistic Director of the Comédie de Paris since 1981, took over