While at the turn of the 1960s and 1970s the traditions of the avant-garde could only prevail in amateur (or alternative) theatre in Hungary, by the second half of the 1970s, the conception of theatre as an experiment began to permeate some of the performances of the official theatre as well. However, this only affected the provincial theatres, and the theatres in Budapest did not show any movement away from the canon. The essay analyses two such experiments: the 1977 premiere of King Ubu in Pécs and the 1979 premiere of Ubu Enchained in Szolnok. Both are linked to the name of István Paál: he is the only Hungarian director who staged two Ubu dramas in two places. I am looking for an answer to the question of what political overtones the two productions were saturated with in the theatre culture of state socialism, and how they employed the dramaturgical procedures of the classical avant-garde.