EXIT THE KING
Critics
LemonMeter
Reviews: 4
Reviews
But the Guard’s puzzled melancholy and Juliette’s tart bluntness — perhaps because they are deployed less frequently — remain amusing. And Dunn is not only beautifully cast, with his aristocratic bearing and a gleam of madness in his eyes, but he displays an impressive emotional range. A remarkably natural performer, he really takes a journey here. The image of his horrified face, spotlighted by Duncombe in the phantasmagoric final tableau, kept my soul chilled all the way to the beach.
City Garage impressively pulls off a metaphysical play without any special effects other than Michel’s staging. Her direction is simple yet stylized, with a sprinkling of heightened movement and gesture. And while Exit the King’s technical design is minimal throughout the show, its final image is arresting and haunting thanks to Duncombe’s lighting.
...Exit the King is thoroughly disturbing and absurd, all too real but oddly comforting...
As performed with heart-breaking power by Troy Dunn, The King is vain, confused, self-centered, yet all too human and likable—a man we know all too well, for he is us. He struggles mightily to cling to life, leave a mark on the world, only to finally fizzle out like a shooting star.
This isn’t to say Exit the King is all existential gloom; Ionesco is too much of a showman for that; he garnishes his story with humor, slapstick and bawdiness.
Every detail makes sense. More, every details forms part of a dynamic drama/comedy taking place. From the Doctor's bizarre method of walking, Marguarite's empowered way of watching, listening, and waiting, the King's yo-yo style of ever increasing panic, even the Guard's barely-successful blowing of his trumpet--all are played to the hilt and given meaning in each moment. We don't understand, yet we do. We cannot say why it all makes a weird kind of sense, but it feels somehow cohesive amid the slippery nature of reality itself.
But the Guard’s puzzled melancholy and Juliette’s tart bluntness — perhaps because they are deployed less frequently — remain amusing. And Dunn is not only beautifully cast, with his aristocratic bearing and a gleam of madness in his eyes, but he displays an impressive emotional range. A remarkably natural performer, he really takes a journey here. The image of his horrified face, spotlighted by Duncombe in the phantasmagoric final tableau, kept my soul chilled all the way to the beach.
City Garage impressively pulls off a metaphysical play without any special effects other than Michel’s staging. Her direction is simple yet stylized, with a sprinkling of heightened movement and gesture. And while Exit the King’s technical design is minimal throughout the show, its final image is arresting and haunting thanks to Duncombe’s lighting.
...Exit the King is thoroughly disturbing and absurd, all too real but oddly comforting...
As performed with heart-breaking power by Troy Dunn, The King is vain, confused, self-centered, yet all too human and likable—a man we know all too well, for he is us. He struggles mightily to cling to life, leave a mark on the world, only to finally fizzle out like a shooting star.
This isn’t to say Exit the King is all existential gloom; Ionesco is too much of a showman for that; he garnishes his story with humor, slapstick and bawdiness.
Every detail makes sense. More, every details forms part of a dynamic drama/comedy taking place. From the Doctor's bizarre method of walking, Marguarite's empowered way of watching, listening, and waiting, the King's yo-yo style of ever increasing panic, even the Guard's barely-successful blowing of his trumpet--all are played to the hilt and given meaning in each moment. We don't understand, yet we do. We cannot say why it all makes a weird kind of sense, but it feels somehow cohesive amid the slippery nature of reality itself.