“The King is dying… The King is dead!”
This is the purpose of Exit the King, but we are not given the time to fully appreciate its meaning.
The driving premise of Eugene Ionesco’s play Exit the King, detailing the Absurd tragic comedy of the death of King Berenger as it details the last hour and thirty minutes of his life, is that the King must die at the finale of the performance. Must die. And there are those who would accept this fact, and there are those who would reject it.
This is a play which has such a wide and varied philosophical meaning, and the performance by Théâtre Excentrique, at the Chippen Street Theatre holds so much potential but unfortunately falls short of realising a true understanding of the play.
It is unfortunate that as an absurdist comedy none of the humour is allowed to rest. There are few moments of reflection for the audience. Each monologue is directed as a steady stream, observed by other characters. It is a style which is maintained on one level throughout the play without variation within the character’s depiction. The pace is uniform, and there is little play in the vision.
Clay Brighton as Queen Marie perfectly contrasts Kirsty Jordan’s Queen Marguerite, as they develop the argument between the acceptance and denial of the king’s ultimate death. This polarizing of the two queens serves to underscore the opposing viewpoints of the play, one is completely, almost hysterically sympathetic, the other dryly cynical. It might be considered that the delivery is a little simplistic, although both performances are robust.
The highlight performance was Leof Kingsford-Smith‘s King Berenger. Kingsford-Smith brilliantly brings a mix of monarchal gravitas mixed with resigned acceptance of his ultimate fate, as he struggles with the inevitable doom that is brought upon him in the beginning of the play. The depth of emotion and realism of his plight aids in the understanding of the pain his character experiences as he realises his unwanted mortality.
The ensemble body tended, at times to rush their lines, although they still managed to deliver good character performances. Josef Schneider as the Guard, Gerry Sont as the Doctor and Alison Windsor as the maid, provided solid support to the railing and flailing of Royalty.
The Chippen Theatre offers a challenge to staging and the set has to be struck every night. For designers, this is something of a nightmare. There are challenges to lighting a play like this and in many cases, the design rose to the challenge delivering a Brechtian sense of light and dark. However, the sun, a key symbolic metaphor in the play, was not handled as well, despite an innovative use of a modern chandelier. This seems to exemplify the majority of issues with the play – just not quite hitting the mark. Mulit-media lagged, delivering a disconnect with performance and screen.
Théâtre Excentrique’s production of Eugene Ionesco’s “Exit the King” is a play that holds such great potential to be an interesting realisation of the play’s message. While not perfect it still offers an enticing night out for theatre lovers and fans of Absurdist theatre.
Oliver Morassut, Theatre Now Sydney
