Stage

By Act 2, the king has gone completely potty and slumps under a blanket in a wheelchair. Everyone lists the accomplishments of his 400-year reign while they wait for him to die. Then, unexpectedly, his heart speeds up; he stands and gives a strange speech -- "There's a mirror in my entrails where everything's reflected" -- and goes blind. This is where both the production and the king improve. Most of Berenger's court exits, and the king is left, fading and blind, at the mercy of his former wife. Queen Marguerite looks like the evil queen from Snow White, only with bubble pack on her collar. Gene Thompson plays the bent and helpless king with real humility, eyes rolled to the ceiling, and Kathryn Wood's cold voice as the queen is spellbinding. The last lines of Exit the King have an astonishing optimism that this production teases out nicely, as the queen coaxes Berenger out of his narcissistic dream.

-- Michael Scott Moore