Absurdity of life and death

By Gwendolyn Rice, Isthmus | July 5, 2018

What’s a king to do when the Milky Way has curdled, the planets have collided, the palace is crumbling and the entire country is falling into an abyss? According to absurdist playwright Eugène Ionesco, the only thing left to do is die. So for the duration of Exit the King, running in the Touchstone Theatre through Sept. 27, audiences see the King (James Ridge) receiving the news of his impending end and living his final two hours. As his practical first wife, Queen Marguerite (Tracy Michelle Arnold), continuously reminds him, “You will die at the end of the play.” The only thing for the audience to do is follow the frustrating, confusing, and absolutely absurd voyage from life to death.

In contrast to the morbid subject matter, much of the production feels like a journey through a carnival fun house. There are lots of laughs and pratfalls. Lights flash and the King goes to outlandish lengths to outrun, outsmart, and generally refuse his death sentence. There is also a Brechtian self-consciousness to the piece; actors chat with audience members as they arrange set pieces and check light cues before the show begins and hand costume pieces from a visible costume trunk to patrons in the front row. Directed by Tim Ocel, the show is a ridiculous ride through the classic stages of death and dying. A quack doctor (John Pribyl), a sensuous young wife (Cassia Thompson), and a soldier who cannot stop following orders (a very funny Casey Hoekstra) swirl around the King, making his passing harder and more fraught, even while they are trying to ease his way.

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