Exit the King

It was composed while Ionesco was ill and frightened of death, inspired partly by a childhood obsession with death in which Ionesco believed one could simply avoid being sick and live forever.

The play had previously been produced on Broadway by the APA-Phoenix Repertory Company at the Lyceum Theatre in 1968, and was filmed for television in 1978 in a production directed by Yves-André Hubert and again in 2006.

This Australian revival production was mounted in Sydney by Company B in 2007 directed by Neil Armfield, starring Susan Sarandon and Geoffrey Rush as King Berenger. The production also formed part of the 2007 Malthouse Theatre season in Melbourne and was one of the plays in the VCE curriculum drama students could choose to analyse.

Produced by John Frost, it went on to open on Broadway in a limited engagement at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, from March to June 2009. Directed by Armfield, and featuring an all-star cast including Geoffrey Rush, Susan Sarandon, William Sadler, Andrea Martin and Lauren Ambrose, this production won PowerArts’ very first Tony Award, with Geoffrey Rush receiving the award for Best Actor in a play.