Exit the Theater

"I'm bored out of my mind," the man sitting next to me said to his wife ten minutes into a performance of absurdist playwright Eugene Ionesco's "Exit the King," currently on Broadway. And while, unlike him, I managed to sit through the entire show, I was very disappointed in spite of an all-star, Oscar-winning cast.



My mom and I went to see the show during spring break, drawn by our longtime love for Susan Sarandon. She plays the first Queen to Geoffrey Rush's King Berenger. With his more affectionate second wife (played by Lauren Ambrose of Six Feet Under), a doctor, and various royal staff, the Queen breaks the news to Berenger that he is dying. The next two hours -- which seemed to be an eternity -- are consumed by reflections on mortality, a crumbling state, and, naturally, the essence of existence.

I understand that Theatre of the Absurd works are inherently unrealistic and overly dramatic, but the pointless plot (obviously, the king will die) and false humor of "Exit the King" ruined seeing some great artists. More than anything, I can't understand why Sarandon chose this work, out of the many scripts she probably receives, to return to Broadway after 37 years. Her character is a one-note wench, a woman with seemingly no backstory and thus no redeeming qualities to justify her petty, blunt cruelty. At times she seemed just as bored as the man next to me, and she has nightly performances ahead of her.

Rush's performance was the one redeeming element. The writing demands the most of him -- physical comedy, childlike petulance, righteous indignation -- and he delivers. Everyone else seems to be going through the rather tedious motions. So even if the thought of seeing two Oscar winners up close -- so close, in fact, that Rush spit in one audience member's face -- entices you, skip this one out. [SXH]

Photo courtesy of The New York Times.