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A SAMUEL FRENCH, LTD. TITLE
Full-Length Play, Drama / 3w, 3m
Donald Watson, Eugene Ionesco
This absurdist exploration of ego and mortality is set in the crumbling throne-room of the palace in an unnamed country where King Berenger the First has only the duration of the play to live.
Winner! 2009 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play (Geoffrey Rush)Nominee: Four 2009 Tony Awards
First produced in 1963 starring Alec Guinness and successfully revived to great acclaim on Broadway in 2009, this absurdist exploration of ego and mortality is set in the crumbling throne-room of the palace in an unnamed country where King Berenger the First has only the duration of the play to live.
Once, it seemed he ruled over an immense empire and commanded great armies, but now his kingdom has shrunk to the confines of his garden wall. Refusing to accept his end, he is attended by his present and former Queens who must help him face the final inevitable truth of life: death.
Exit the King was originally presented by the English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre in London on 12 September 1963.
THE GUARDKING BERENGERQUEEN MARGUERITEJULIETTEQUEEN MARIEDOCTOR
King Berenger’s throne-room.
“The most moving of all Ionesco’s plays, if only from the width of its sympathies. It is incomparably his greatest work.” – New York Times
“Vivaciously performed and full of regal ritual.” – The Guardian
“Thrilling, precise and demanding.” – New York Theatre Guide
“The imagination itself is original, bizarre, powerful. The most moving of all Ionesco’s plays, if only from the width of its sympathies. It is incomparably his greatest work.” - The New York Times
ON BREAKING CHARACTER
In Conversation With… Grief: Shows That Engage with the Healing ProcessBy Dylan Fugel30 April 2026
Exit the King – 2009 Broadway Production Opening Night