Patrick Marber directs Rhys Ifans in this new production of Exit the King. Here Love London Love Culture rounds up the reviews…
The Guardian: ★★★ “Even if the play’s destination is vague, Patrick Marber’s production ensures the journey itself has variety. It is vivaciously performed and full of regal ritual.”
West End Whingers: “It probably says something existential and profound about death and authority though it was impossible to give a hoot. Rather startlingly it’s billed as a tragi-comedy. Strangely some of the audience were laughing. At what? Embarrassment?”
The Independent: ★★★★ “There is much to enjoy here besides the fantastical humour and exquisite one-liners.”
Hollywood Reporter: “A little more of this imaginative audacity would have been welcome in a production that chiefly relies on its charismatic star to provide the emotional fireworks.”
The Stage: ★★★ “While there is a scattering of laughs at the start, Marber’s production suffers from a number of lulls. He brings out the play’s layers – one man’s scrabble against the multiple indignities of physical decline and the falling away of an old order – but ironically he struggles to make the play feel alive.”
The FT: ★★★ “Rhys Ifans, however, is tremendous and weirdly magnetic. Starting out as a cross between an ageing rocker and Batman’s Joker, with his lank locks and his smeared make-up, he seems to age and crumble poignantly before your eyes and he brings real terror and pathos to his final exit.”
The Telegraph: ★★★ “Put bluntly, when the “existentialist” element is to the fore, you feel the cosmic shiver of the human condition. When the evening attempts lower-case absurdist larks, you may be afflicted by shudders of boredom.”
Exeunt Magazine: “Ifans is a master storyteller, and his inward-facing sermons are compelling.”
Broadway World: ★★★ “Ultimately a beautiful set and great performances can’t save this show, which starts out well but struggles through to the end. While Ifans gives a striking performance, the play is less funny than one would expect from an absurdist tragicomedy.”
British Theatre.com:★★ “It’s hard to think of, apart from students of Absurdist theatre, who this production is for, and seems a very insipid choice for a revival.”
Time Out: ★★★ “Indira Varma is superb as the king’s first wife Marguerite, got up like a Disney villain in a black velvet fishtail gown, all imperious impatience; her comic lines drop like a guillotine.”
The 730 Review: ★★★ “Ionesco’s script proves a challenge too great for this company to realise fully.”
The Reviews Hub: ★★★ “Despite Marber’s best efforts, one fears Exit the King’s legacy will be the set on which an otherwise anodyne adaptation plays out.”
The London Economic: “Who says the anti-political Ionesco isn’t political or that he can’t be relevant because he is now. Bring on more because he seems just right for our times and a provocative breath of fresh air.”
The Upcoming: ★★★ “Ifans makes for a striking lead, bellowing and bawling as he crawls towards the other side.”
Evening Standard: ★★★ “A blend of pantomime and angst-ridden darkness, it’s commendably bonkers yet also overblown and uneven.”
The Metro: ★★★ “The concluding segment is visually astonishing, but underlines the heavily gestural quality of both the play and the production. Despite Ifans, this felt like a long evening.”
London Theatre1: ★★ “This is a play that I think will divide its audience – some will love it and others hate it – I just thought it was a bit creaky and jaded.”
