Exit The King

Upon leaving Mr. Armfield's revival of "Exit The King," an elderly woman who stood to my left uttered "Not the play for me. I assumed it would be a comedy." Mr. Ionesco's story about a 400 year old king (Mr. Rush) who is condemned to die in order that his country survive is pure comic genius. Ionesco, having come out of the Theatre of the Absurd, gives us text from which to draw our own conclusions. When Juliette (Ms. Martin) rushes on stage at the top of the play with house lights still ablaze, she totes a double-sided sign warning us against the use of cell phones and texting. The lights go down, and the Guard (Mr. Hutchinson) introduces each character. Beginning with the King, then progressing to Queen Marguerite, First Wife to the King (Ms. Sarandon), moving along to Queen Marie, Second Wife to the King (Ms. Ambrose) and followed lastly by the Doctor (Mr. Sadler.) And we're off.

Unlike "The Bald Soprano," Ionesco's first play which gained popularity from its use of non-sequiturs, ETK is as conventional a plot to come from the Parisian playwright. Queen Marguerite and Queen Marie can't seem to agree that the King must die, Marguerite being the executioner. As the doctor enters and informs everyone that King Berenger will die, the battle of death begins. Juliette, a maid, rushes around performing whatever duties are required of her. There is a beautiful bit in the beginning between Juliette and the Guard that reeks of sexual tension, and is never touched upon again. Brilliant. As the audience takes in the relationships of the First Wife to the Second Wife (Ms. Ambrose plays her extreme emotions to perfection), we learn that the world outside has crumbled. The population is practically non existent, women have stopped reproducing, wars have been fought and won and re-fought and lost. The sun has stopped shining. The clouds no longer listen to the King when he tells them to stop raining. As the action steers ahead, the King has no power over anything. Marguerite, in the laugh line of the whole play, tells the King "You're going to die in an hour and a half. You're going to die at the end of the play." The most fantastical part of doing an Ionesco production is that you're asked, as the audience, to buy into believing a 400 year old King has the power to decide when he will die, the power to stop planets from colliding, yet we are always reminded we are in a theatrical setting. Mr. Rush, in a great piece of roundabout blocking, comes into the audience and embraces us with his larger than life presence. Mr. Sadler's character oversees all this. In a world gone to shambles, not completely invisible to our world today, the inherent theme that is softly laid into us through beautiful poetry and refined soliloquies is death. The insane nature of how and where this story takes place would mean nothing if this theme didn't pour throughout every sentence.

Mr. Rush adapted Ionesco's text alongside Mr. Armfield. How then, do you add an intermission to a piece that didn't have one without rewriting too much? Simple: one character exclaims "What happens now?" The Guard replies "Intermission." Lights up. How, if there was no intermission, would you open the second act? Well, with a beautifully staged dance sequence to Mozart, of course. Did I mention, as the lights come up, all actors are in the exact same position as when the curtain fell? Comic genius. Yet, through the wonderful scenic and costume design by Mr. Ferguson, the comically efficient lighting design (including a strobe) by Mr. Copper and the intoxicating trumpets by Mr. Endsley and Mr. Harrell, it all would seemingly have never have attracted the vastness of this audience without these wonderful thespians.

Mr. Sadler has perfect comic timing as The Doctor, Court Surgeon, Bacteriologist, Executioner and Astrologist. The character interacts the least with most of the cast members but his presence gives the production an added boost.
FAVORITE LINE: (in response to being an assistant to euthanasia with the King many years ago) "I was only obeying orders. I was a mere instrument, just an executor, not an executioner."

Mr. Hutchinson's performance of The Guard is impeccable. In a role that can easily annoy any theatre-goer, he goes full steam ahead and never rushes the comedy. His monologue towards the end of the play, as absurd as it gets, never becomes too real or melodramatic. In addition to his many utterances of "Long Live The King," you could almost count on your fingers the number of lines he has that are not repeated. The trick, then, is never making it feel repetitive. It, of course, never does.
FAVORITE LINE: (in recognition of the King's achievements) "He wrote comedies and tragedies under the name of Shakespeare."

Ms. Martin shined last season in "Young Frankenstein." In ETK, playing Juliette, her star has become the Big Dipper. She, by far, gives the most comedic performance in the production. Her physical comedy abilities are wonderful, but her reactions takes the cake. Nothing compares to her humorous leaps while walking and her frantic characterization of a woman trying to do everything she's told.
FAVORITE LINE: (speaking of the grocer) "He's enourmous. Hideously fat! So ugly he frightened the birds and the cats away.

Ms. Ambrose, a beautiful red-headed goddess, encompasses the role of Queen Marie with a gripping vivacity. An emotional wreck from start to finish, she brings us in and lets us feel her love for Berenger. At times needy and whiny, Ms. Ambrose plays with such complexity that her performance borders on perfection. Some will come knowing her from "Six Feet Under" where she played a daughter faced with the stuggles of losing a parent, being present around death constantly (her family owned a funeral parlor) and finding her artistic ability in a world gone haywire. Between ETK and her stint as Juliet in Shakespeare In The Park last year, this confirms her vast range as a dramatic actress. Her emotional, intimate scene with Mr. Rush is romanticized and beautiful. Her opposition with Ms. Sarandon gives her moments to shine with her comedic confidence. She also had a great bit of physical comedy as she goes from one side of the stage to the other, ending in a sexual position with Mr. Rush. For me, Ms. Ambrose's performance was the most rewarding. I felt, heart to heart, that she was about to lose someone she loved and was blind as to what ramifications awaited her.
FAVORITE LINE: (telling the King to call her over to him) I smell beautiful!

As Queen Marguerite, Ms. Sarandon (Academy Award winner for "Dead Man Walking,") has a very commanding presence returning to Broadway for the first time since 1972. Ms. Sarandon's character has the jokes of the play. Until the last seven minutes of the play, she seems to only be there to acquire laughter from the audience. She even addresses the audiences at times, directly and indirectly. I will not speak too negatively about Ms. Sarandon, because she is a beautiful woman with a talent beyond which many people will ever achieve. HOWEVER, her performance felt too defined. Her voice is full of authority, her figure demands attention, but yet I felt a little empty. She has, I think to her credit, separated stage and film acting. She knows what is meant for the stage, and she uses it to her advantage. Physically, Ms. Sarandon embodied Queen Marguerite perfectly. However, her approach felt like a recreation of her role in "Ever After" where she played an evil queen as well. The performance seemed to play too much into the cliche and left us feeling unfulfilled from Her Majesty Queen Marguerite.
FAVORITE LINE: (in response to the King's demise, and the play's end) "We've got thirty-two minutes and thirty seconds left."

All Hail, Mr. Rush! As King Berenger, I have never seen a finer performance onstage. Mr. Rush (Academy Award winner for Shine), having adapted the play as well, brings us Ionesco with contemporary language that blends perfectly to its environment. Profane language, references to national security and updated cultural innuendos made this revival more than just a great production: it made it the perfect production. Enough about the fantastic adaptation, Mr. Rush gives a PERFECT performance. Whether it be through coming into the audience, flailing about on stage, or calling Ms. Sarandon "a bitch" through mime, it's all beautiful to watch. In heavy make up, perfectly lined pajamas and a scepter used for more than just walking around, Mr. Rush owns everything. All the positive praise in the world, in the universe even, cannot begin to describe the magic elicited from this master performer. His humor, always at the forefront, never gives way to his large sentimentality about losing his life and everything around him. I have to stop because I will go on forever praising the performance of the genius that is Mr. Rush.
FAVORITE LINE: (after a bewildering strobe light effect of the entire cast moving around the stage) What the fuck was that?

And so, we come back to the elderly woman who "did not" see a comedy. Well, the play isn't for everyone, I'll give you that. However, a close acting friend of mine has said that absurdist theatre enlightens us more. It requires us to think and investigate the mysteries of life through these situations. ETK is no "Boeing, Boeing" but its stellar performances give even the contemporary audience more than they bargained for. See this. See this before it closes and open yourself up to the theatre of the absurd from the master Mr. Ionesco himself, completely channeled through Mr. Rush. If nothing else, at the end of the play, you can always say you agreed with the elderly woman. We'll call her Hannah. If you don't like it, you can say you agreed with Hannah.

EXIT THE KING is playing a limited engagement at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre until June 14, 2009.

www.exitthekingonbroadway.com

Geoffrey Rush
Susan Sarandon
Lauren Ambrose
Andrea Martin
Brian Hutchinson
William Sadler

Directed by: Neil Armfield