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Exit the King

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.

Exit the King

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    3w, 3m
  • Duration
    Duration
    120 minutes (2 hours)
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult
Accolades
Accolades

  • Winner! 2009 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play (Geoffrey Rush)
    Nominee: Four 2009 Tony Awards

Details

Summary

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.

History

Exit the King was originally presented by the English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre in London on 12 September 1963.

Keywords
Performing Groups

THE GUARD
KING BERENGER
QUEEN MARGUERITE
JULIETTE
QUEEN MARIE
DOCTOR

  • Time Period Contemporary, 1960s
  • Setting

    King Berenger’s throne-room.

  • Features Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes, Period Costumes
  • Duration 120 minutes (2 hours)

Media

“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

Videos

  • Exit the King – 2009 Broadway Production Opening Night youtube thumbnail

    Exit the King – 2009 Broadway Production Opening Night

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £70 per performance plus VAT when applicable.

Scripts

Available Formats:
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Authors

Author
Eugene Ionesco

Eugene Ionesco
(born Nov. 26, 1909, Slatina, Rom.died March 28, 1994, Paris, France) was a Romanian-born French playwright. He studied in Bucharest and Paris, where he lived from 1945. His first one-act antiplay, The Bald Soprano (1950), inspired a revolution in dramatic techniques and help ...
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