Ed Rampell – Hollywood Progressive
If cinéma vérité filmmakers such as D.A. Pennebaker, Richard Leacock, Jean Rouch or the Maysles Brothers had cameras inside of the Trump White House (that is, what’s left of it), their fly on the wall footage would likely reveal lunacy akin to that of “Exit the King’s” court. I’m sure that what we see in public is tame in comparison to what transpires behind closed doors. In comparison to the blithering idiot Trump, Ionesco’s King Berenger is an Albert Einstein. Read more…
Travis Michael Holder – TicketHoldersLA
Wunderkind director Michael Michetti clearly leans into an on-the-nose political and social angle that morphs Ionesco’s 1962 absurdist play from a surrealist fable into a sharp, uncomfortable reflection of our current national and international dilemma. King Berenger’s demise isn’t just an abstract metaphor for death, it’s a biting critique of the fragility of power and the absurdity of modern leadership, ultimately feeling startlingly grounded in our own reality. Read more…
Anita W. Harris – LA Theatrix
A play called “Exit the King” seems perfect now when democratic values and personal freedoms are under threat by a president who seems to have monarchical ambitions. Eugène Ionesco’s 1962 play, currently on stage at A Noise Within, does skewer tyrannical behavior, but also makes clear that the tyrant is each of us. Read more…