Exit the King, The Killer, and Macbett / Three Plays / Eugene Ionesco

Exit the King is a highly stylized, ritualized death rite unfolding the final hours of the once-great king Berenger the First. As he dies, his kingdom also dies. His armies suffer defeat, the young emigrate, the seasons change overnight, and his kingdom s borders shrink to the outline of his throne. At last, as the curtain falls, the king himself dissolves into a gray mist.

The Killer is a study of pure evil. B renger, a conscientious citizen, finds himself in a radiantly beautiful city marred only by the presence of a killer. B renger s determination to find the murderer in the face of official indifference and his final defeat at the hands of an impersonal, pitiless cruelty speak with the universality of Kafka s The Trial.

Macbett, inspired by Shakespeare s play, is a grotesque joke . . . [and] a very funny play. . . . Ionecso maliciously undermines sources and traditions, spoofing Shakespeare along with tragedy. Mel Gussow, The New York Times