april 5th, i went for a wonderful play called "exit the king" at the cub malthouse theatre. it starred geoffrey rush, if you remember him as captain barbossa from the pirates of the caribbean. i really enjoyed it.

firstly, i didn't know that geoffrey rush is australian, and a melbournian at that. i googled him and found out more about this brilliant actor. he's done a lot of work and got his break to stardom since pirates but in essence he still prefers to work with a few at the malthouse to inspire, build and develop the art of theatre at more local grounds like his own homeground. so i went to check him out. for a relatively cheap ticket of ausd20 i got a very good seat, 6th row from the stage. it was a small theatre to begin with. (cub malthouse is quite a huge place of multiple smallish theatre halls for different kinds of art work, some being the dark, abstract, experimental types. you get the picture)

the play had only a cast of six - the king, 2 queens, a doctor, the royal nurse/nanny, and royal guard. it was a semi-comedy about a has-been king whose kingdom had shrunk to just about the 6 of them. and his time had come to leave this realm. his first wife is seemingly cold and thinks of him as way past his expiration date. his 2nd queen is the one he loves - young, vivacous, beautiful, voluptuous, and they have full passion for each other (she's a recognizable screen actress too, i just don't remember her name). the story goes that while he was rapidly losing his health, wealth and vigor, he struggles and refuses even the idea of bowing out of all that he thinks is still his. and what is keeping him hanging on the lifeline is the strong false sense that he is still a strong influence and authority figure with a whole lot - a whole kingdom, or so he thinks. so his remaining subjects try to break it to him the reality that apart from what he has within himself, he has nothing left, and that it was ok to go, that in fact it was time. but not without opposition from his young and unwise 2nd wife who conflicts him by trying to prop him up with glorified thoughts of himself and to boost his confidence and pride. while trying to spare him of the harsh realities of death seemed like a loving thing to do, it wasn't helping. it was just time for him to go.

it got interesting when on one hand they would reminesce and show the glory of his hey days, and then contrast it with my favorite part, which was the ending. his seemingly cold and uncaring 1st wife, was through this whole time trying to help him face up with these closing moments of his life, albeit also through a wrong approach of doing it harshly. at the last scene of him dying, it was only she who was left with him. she suddenly shed her harsh exterior and sort of became this angel-like character who helps usher the king to meet his maker. (you got to imagine this) that scene was played out in slow-mo pace. she begins by slowly stripping him off his outer kingly garments - his kingly robe, cape/mantle (what's another word for that? it sounds so superhero, haha), sceptre, and lastly the royal crown, and naming them one by one for what they are symbolically to him as they come off. and then you see her proceeding to unchain him of invisible bondages and burdens on him, invisible shackles around his ankles, then around his wrists, burdens off his shoulders and lastly loads of his mind. as she is doing this, you see the king becoming more and more free in his limbs, and slumping more and more, and it was also amazing that even on his face you can see it all coming off him. and just when you think that he's finally ready to go, you see him slumping with this strange, weak and slight sneaky suspicious look on his face. she searches him again and realizes that his fists are clenched. "what is this you're holding?" she asks. he reluctantly lets her pry his fingers open and she eclaims softly, "ah, it's your kingdom". he finds this the hardest to let go off, although materially, it's been no longer there for ages. he finally lets go and you can see him totally weak, totally bare, but totally free. and it's amazing how geoffrey rush can make his whole being, including his face look like it's totally stripped of life! he looked like a dead person! and he begins to walk towards his maker, but not without looking back a few times until he has a glimpse of what's beyond him. then he goes without looking back.

geoffrey rush is a brilliant actor. but i also found the portrayal of a dying man fascinating. how really, when we leave, we bring nothing except what is within us, nothing else beyond our skin. we absolutely cannot bring anything that is of this world, even if we should try to clutch it in our mind's hands. it should give us a perspective of what really matters at the end of the day...