By Skip Sheffield
When is a comedy not a comedy?
The answer: when it is Ionesco’s theater of the absurd classic, “Exit the King,” onstage through April 28 at Palm Beach Dramaworks, 201 Clematis St., West Palm Beach.
Eugene Ionesco considered the inevitability of death a primary, overwhelming fact of life. Since death is inevitable, why not make fun of hapless human beings squirming under its sentence?
The action of “Exit the King” begins before the play itself. Affable British-born actor Colin McPhillamy circulates through the audience in costume and bright red wig, handing out flyers for the company.
This sets the tone for a production that on the surface is silly and goofy, but as we are drawn in, becomes quite deadly serious.
McPhillamy plays King Berenger the First, the 400-year-old monarch of a tattered kingdom wracked by war, corruption, pollution and bad choices. “Exit the King” was written in 1962 and revised in 2007 by actor Geoffrey Rush and director Neil Armfield, but I could not help but be reminded
of an immediately past president who made similarly bad choices for which we still pay.
King Berenger is a vain, juvenile monarch who has rejected his first wife, Queen Marguerite (Angie Radosh) for a newer model, Queen Marie (Claire Brownell).
Queen Marguerite still hangs around the palace and she is none too happy about her situation. Neither is Queen Marie, a shallow young woman who didn’t quite realize what she was getting into.
Director William Hayes has set the action without intermission in approximately 90 minutes. This is a good thing, because a lot of territory is covered in that hour and a half as the inept King slowly realizes the magnitude and certainty of his situation.
Apparently early in his reign, King Berenger enjoyed power not only over his people, but of the forces of nature itself. Alas his Doctor (Rob Donohoe) informs the King he has but 90 minutes left to live. This prompts the King to go through the stages of death: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Admittedly this does not sound like a load of laughs, but thanks to the black but not bleak humor of Ionesco and the artistry of McPhillamy, who somehow makes a failure and buffoon pitiable if not admirable, “Exit the King’ never dips into the realm of tragedy.
Aiding the cause are the able supporting players who one by one fade away. The aforementioned Doctor (Rob Donohoe) also becomes a surgeon, executioner, bacteriologist and astrologist. Elizabeth Dimon is the long-suffering Maid Juliette as well as assorted domestic help and Registered Nurse. Stoically overseeing the diminishing proceedings is The Guard (Jim Ballard), one of the few “normal” characters.
For those of you who fear death, “Exit the King” is actually a mood-lifter. As badly as you may have screwed up your life, it is unlikely you failed as totally as bumbling King Berenger. It is pointless to regret what might have been.
Tickets are $55 ($10 students). Call 561-514-4042 or go to www.palmbeachdramaworks.org.
