It works, I guess, but I doubt that Ionesco would have approved of the cheaper jokes. Armfield and Rush that has been modernized, vulgarized and generally tarted up. The second is the translation, a new English-language version by Messrs. Sarandon, whose acting is flat and uninteresting. Only two weak links mar this sterling revival.
Neil Armfield's slapstick-tinged staging is full of bold slashes of color, and the supporting ensemble, led by the increasingly incomparable Lauren Ambrose, leaves little to be desired. Rush, however, gets the point right in the heart: The decayed flamboyance of his performance as the dying king is the stuff Tonys are made of. Ionesco called 'Exit the King' 'an attempt at an apprenticeship in dying,' a description that, though perfectly accurate as far as it goes, fails to convey the macabre gusto of this now-ludicrous, now-terrifying parable of dissolution and resignation.
