The Court Theatre Presents EXIT THE KING

The Court Theatre presents Exit the King, written by Eugène Ionesco, translated by Neil Armfield & Geoffrey Rush, Directed by Ross Gumbley. The show will be performed on the Tonkin and Taylor main stage at The Court Theatre, 17 October - 7 November 2015.

For 400 years King Berenger conquered his enemies, building a vast kingdom with millions of subjects. He even controlled the weather. But Father Time catches up with everyone.

Now his kingdom is crumbling, his vast armies have gone, all that is left is less than a thousand elderly subjects. Even the palace washing machine has been pawned.

In Berenger's collapsing world there is no future in the future. His Royal Highness must bow to Father Time, but he is having none of it.

Exit the King is Eugène Ionesco's brilliantly disagreeable absurdist comedy that pokes fun at mortality. It was written at a time when the writer was facing his own imminent demise after bouts of serious illness. "This play is an attempt at an apprenticeship in dying," he once said to French literary critic Claude Bonnefoy.

Berenger is Ionesco's Everyman and features in several of his plays. Unlike Berenger, whose impending death in Exit the King comes as no surprise to anyone except himself, Ionesco survived another 32 years after writing the play and passed away peacefully in 1994 during an afternoon nap. During his lifetime he established himself as a writer at the forefront of avant-garde theatre, referred to as the "Shakespeare of the Absurd".

The Court Theatre's Artistic Director Ross Gumbley prefers to view Exit the King as a play about life: "Ionesco's plays are full of extraordinary things and Exit the King is no exception. At face value it is a play about death and how we shy away from confronting it, until, of course, we have to. It is really a play about life."

The Court's adaptation of Ionesco's 1962 script was penned by director Neil Armfield and Academy Award winning actor Geoffrey Rush, and opened in Sydney in 2007. For the first time since its 1968 première Exit the King returned to Broadway in 2009 with Geoffrey Rush in the lead role. This translation of Ionesco's classic absurdist comedy has gone on to challenge, intrigue and engage audiences worldwide.

Cast:

· William Walker: King Berenger

· Carmel McGlone: Queen Marguerite

· Lauren Gibson: Queen Marie

· Tom Trevella: The Guard

· Steven Ray: The Doctor

· Kim Garrett: Juliette

Production Team:

· Ross Gumbley: Director

· Julian Southgate: Set Designer

· Tina Hutchison-Thomas: Costume Designer

· Sean Hawkins: Lighting Designer

· Hamish Oliver: Sound Designer

· Danielle Ferreira Beckner: Properties

· Jo Bunce: Stage Manager

· Giles Tanner: Operator

To Book phone 03 963 0870 or visit www.courttheatre.org.nz.
Tickets $57-$23

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