Exit the King
Exit the King
September 21-24, 2023 (Thursday-Saturday, 7:30 pm; Sunday 2 pm)
Maddox Theatre, Clark Arts Center
Director, Prof. Deborah Mogford
King Berenger has a problem. He does not want to leave the stage. He is enjoying the spotlight even though he is caught in a tug-of-war between his two Queens. One wants him to face reality in a true kingly manner and behave well, while the other younger Queen is ready to “Party-Hearty” and forget the concerns of the world. Which Queen will win? Will Berenger gracefully exit the stage or will he refuse to leave?
Exit the King is from the imagination of Eugene Ionesco, one of the foremost playwrights from the genera of Theatre of the Absurd, and in true Absurd fashion Ionesco deals with this dilemma through outrageous comedy using vaudeville routines, slapstick, prat falls, clowning, and other comic turns. Ionesco is the master of an important idea seen through the lenses of comedy. The play is even more relevant today than it was when it opened in 1963.
