Penderecki was interested for a long time in an opera based on Alfred Jarry's 1896 surrealist play Ubu Roi, but realized that the topic of satire of power and corruption was not welcome in the restricted political surroundings he lived in.

[2] The cast was led by the character tenor Robert Tear in the title role, mezzo-soprano Doris Soffel as Mother Ubu, soprano Pamela Coburn as Queen Rosamunde.

[6] The opera is a fairly faithful adaption of the Alfred Jarry's play Ubu Roi, which is itself a parody of William Shakespeare's tragedies (particularly Macbeth, Hamlet and King Lear), combining the subject of bloody power struggles with comedic and absurdist elements.

Wenceslaus being deeply unpopular as the result of a poorly executed war between Poland and Russia, Ubu's wife convinces him to kill the king and usurp his throne.

The power-hungry and amoral Ubu is won over by the plan and quickly sets about recruiting unscrupulous members of the king's court, chiefly fellow captain Bordure.

The coup is completely successful, and the king is murdered, but his wife and his son, Crown Prince Bougrelas, escape, although the queen dies shortly after.

The new king then sets about slowly isolating and slaughtering many of the other powerful figures in Poland, including the most influential members of the nobility, the judiciary, and the nation's financial ministers and administrators, all to feed his continuing greed for wealth and a desire for complete control of the state.