The throne trembles, and laughter becomes a way to confront the end. The King Dies, Eugène Ionesco’s play staged by Mélanie Le Duc, is presented in the Cour de la Grande Écurie at Versailles, as part of the Mois Molière, with Marie-Laure Desbordes, Viviane Fougereux, Wilhem Mahtallah, Jacques Poix-Terrier, Jérôme Ragon and Mélanie Surian, on Saturday June 27, 2026 at 8:30 PM and Sunday June 28, 2026 at 5:30 PM.
In The King Must Die, Ionesco puts the audience face to face with a sovereign who has to die before the curtain falls. The realm crumbles, certainties vanish, and death—inevitable—becomes the heartbeat of the drama. Rooted in the Theatre of the Absurd, the play tackles a grave subject with a cool distance, wit, and a destabilizing edge. The king appears as a figure both singular and universal, confronting what we all too often try to keep at arm's length.
The stage direction announced by Mélanie Le Duc offers a sixties, rock’n’roll-inflected take on Ionesco’s text. This choice threads a more offbeat frame through a work that already fuses tragedy, farce, and clarity. In the Courtyard of the Grand Stables, Exit the King finds an open space to host a play that gradually erodes bearings, titles, and power. The proposal leaves a simple, ever-relevant question in the air: what remains when the set comes down, when the roles blur, and the character must finally confront what he can no longer postpone?
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Dates and Opening Time
From June 27, 2026 to June 28, 2026
Location
Grandes Ecuries de Versailles
Avenue de Paris
78000 Versailles
Official website
www.moismoliere.com
