Exit the King

Exit the King

Donald Watson, Eugene Ionesco

Exit the King

Exit the King

Donald Watson, Eugene Ionesco

Overview

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, 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.

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Authors

Author

Donald Watson

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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