Forgotten gem

A comedy that is timely and timelessIT IS tough to make a two-hour death-knell entertaining. Is there anything amusing about not wanting to die? Yes, if you are lucky enough to see Exit the King, a largely forgotten work by Eugene Ionesco, a 20th-century French absurdist playwright. Directed by Neil Armfield, this new production at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre is darkly hilarious. The shows success has much to do with Geoffrey Rush, a gifted Oscar-winning Australian actor who is here making his Broadway debut. With Mr Armfield he has written a new translation of the 1962 French original, gently revitalising what he has called a forgotten masterpiece. More to the point, he delivers a feverishly brilliant performance as King Berenger I, a 400-year-old monarch on his last wobbly legs.