Exit the King with Geoffrey Rush, Malthouse, March 28, 2007

Exit the King by Eugene Ionesco
translated by Isabelle Mangeot-Hewison, Geoffrey Rush and Neil Armfield.

Merlyn Theatre, Malthouse Theatre

March 28 to April 21, 2007

Tues 6.30pm, Wed to Sat 8pm, Sun 5pm

Reviewer: Kate Herbert on opening night, March 28, 2007

Featuring Geoffery Rush

Eugene Ionesco’s King Berenger (Geoffrey Rush) orders the sun to rise, trees to grow and clouds to disperse. Ridiculous as it seems, his behaviour is not unlike that of some despots who rule small nations.

Rush is hilarious and magnetic, invoking his comic genius to play the 400-year old sovereign, Berenger, in Ionesco’s existentialist tragicomedy, Exit the King. Dressed in pyjamas and an ermine robe, he staggers on rubbery legs, tumbles to the floor repeatedly and performs sights gags with his sceptre and crown.

In the faded grandeur of his throne room, designed by Dale Ferguson, Berenger is surrounded by the trappings of royalty, his wives and remaining servants. He has 90 minutes to live; he will die at the end of the play. What follows is a chaotic blend of farce and tragedy as Berenger faces mortality after centuries of tyranny and arrogance, complacency, warmongering and oppression.

His dogged grip on life saps the blood out of his kingdom, causing its deterioration; land falls into an abyss and his few remaining subjects are geriatrics. His know-all Doctor (Bille Brown) and calculating first wife, Queen Marguerite (Gillian Jones), blatantly welcome his forthcoming demise. Death stages a political coup for them.

Although written in 1962, the play resonates with contemporary issues. Power corrupts, war achieves nothing, leaders rule carelessly and we seek the fountain of youth, unwilling to face the inevitability of death. Berenger embodies the five stages of grieving. He denies, rages, bargains, weeps and, finally, grudgingly accepts his fate and takes poignant delight in the banalities of daily existence.

Directed with a deft hand by Neil Armfield, Rush balances comedy with pathos in the king’s struggle to accept death. His interpretation of Ionesco’s monologues and moments of stillness is moving. We all crave redemption, a reprieve from death’s call.

The rhythm of the play feels uneven and there is more comedy and pathos to be had from supporting characters.

Julie Forsyth is deliciously funny and eccentric as the downtrodden, exhausted but devoted maidservant, Juliette. Brown plays the Doctor with supercilious coldness. As the loyal Guard, David Woods is comically addled, lumbering in his unwieldy coat of arms, spouting proclamations about the King’s health.

Rebecca Massey, makes young wife, Marie’s whining and weeping very funny. Gillian Jones, as Queen Marguerite, captures her calculating pragmatism and relentlessness although, at the start of the play, she seems to be playing a more naturalistic style.

By Kate Herbert