Review: Undermain’s ‘Exit the King’ is a surreal look at a delusional despot
There is a new resonance to Undermain’s Exit the King after Tuesday’s election results. Eugene Ionesco’s absurdist comedy about King Berenger’s fear or denial of death as his kingdom crumbles around him opened last week and is directed by Tim Johnson.
The ridiculous, surrealist dialogue is comical and clever as the king drops nutty sound bytes while surrounded by a mix of enablers and realists.
But when the title becomes apparent, the show shifts into a theatrical dirge, and the clownish king is forced to embrace a new perspective.
Bruce DuBose played the “too young to die” 400-something-year-old King who thrives on a blissful ignorance and delusion. DuBose’s performance served the play well through his many facets and moods that mixed a wonderfully buffoonish physical performance with an ideal royal air that conveyed the king as out of touch with anything that isn’t him.
