A battle between destiny and logic spearheads an absurdist No Refund Theatre play about a king faced with his own demise.

"It's really sort of a celebration of life," said Ryan Bergman (junior-film), director of the production, Exit the King. "It's about how much you can enjoy life regardless of how long or brief it is."

Exit the King, by Eugene Ionesco, will be showcased at 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday in 111 Forum. The NRT performance will explore the many phases people encounter when struggling with the inevitability of death.

"The king is like every man trying to cope with death. He goes through phases of denial and acceptance dealing with his imminent death," said Adam Bouc (sophomore-film and English), who plays King Berenger.

The 400-year-old King is warned of his fast-approaching death near the beginning of the play, Bergman said. The opinions of his first wife (Queen Marguerite) and current second wife (Queen Marie) represent both sides of his own struggle, he said.

"They provoke his inner battle, but neither of them is completely right," Bergman said. "Queen Marguerite is right in that he should accept his destiny, but she goes to the extreme saying, 'You should have been thinking about this every day'."

Queen Marie, on the other hand, is young and somewhat naïve, Bergman said.

"She begs the king to keep going on forever," Bergman said, adding this illogical way of thinking ends up doing him more harm than good.

Since it is an absurdist play, the playwright tends to make nonsensical events happen, Bouc said.

"They usually get very strange, out of the ordinary thing to express a challenging, philosophical concept," Bouc said. "It's fantastic -- anything can happen."

The kingdom begins to fall apart, matching the king's sickness, Bouc said.

"As the king gets sicker, things break," Bouc said. "Whole buildings poof out of existence and the sky starts raining frogs."

In the theater world, absurdist productions are less common, he said.

"It's so unique; it's not something you see very often," Bouc said. "Absurdism is like a minority in theater."

Bergman added the presentation for Exit the King has many different elements of theater.

"The audience will laugh; they may even find themselves crying. It gets very deep, and then couple that with the fact that it's an absurdist play."

For those who don't usually attend plays, this would be a good starting point, Bergman said.

"It is a very funny and sentimental show -- everybody can follow along," Bergman said. "It's a subject we all have to deal with."

Seeing a play isn't a typical weekend outing in a college town, Bergman said, but it's a good alternative.

Sabrina Bierer (sophomore-political science), who plays Queen Marguerite, said she's a fan of absurdist theater.

"It's always a blast to watch," Bierer said. "It's actually why I wanted to do the show -- it's really funny."