4/5 “Hell is other people.” This is something you might have heard before, uttered bitterly by disillusioned adults, or something you might have thought yourself (after being vomited on in an Oxford nightclub, for example). It is also a famous quotation from Sartre’s play Huis Clos, translated into English as No Exit by Oxford students.If you thought being vomited on in an Oxford club was bad, then you will struggle to cope with the human cruelty and vice portrayed in this play. In No Exit, three characters are trapped in a room together, verbally vomiting on each other, creating a hell out of their own humanity. Garcin, Estelle and Inès sit in a room waiting to be tortured, before realizing that they are there to torture each other.This play clearly demonstrates why ‘hell is other people.’ No Exit could easily become an overdone heap of horrible human vice; instead it is made compelling by some excellent acting. At first the audience recognizes caricatures: Inès is emo, with long black hair and dripping sarcasm, Garcin is an arrogant man with a history of adultery, and Estelle is a hysterical society type who clatters around in high heels asking vainly for a mirror. Then the audience learns of the characters’ sins and gains a voyeuristic gratification from watching them manipulate each other. Inès (Joy Tuffield) is sexual and menacing as she taunts Garcin and Estelle; she is brilliant as a deeply disturbed lesbian. Meanwhile Garcin (Zachary Sniderman) oozes masculinity, torn between irritated silence and a desire to manipulate Inès and Estelle. Garcin’s hatred for Inès, but his feelings for Estelle are too ambivalent. Although a powerful character, I could not help but feel that his emotions were often blurred. Estelle (Ellen Buddle), is the sniveling victim of Garcin and Inès’s torment. Her hysteria is overpowering at times and bubbles over into the unbelievable, but her acting is dynamic as she switches from melodramatic to chillingly cruel.Not only does this production accurately portray Sartre’s intentions, it also invites the audience to voyeurism. We watch entranced as the characters destroy each other through a mix of seduction, manipulation and violence. This is no vomit-at-a-nightclub hell; it is a chilling potrayal of humanity at its most horrendous. And it is dangerously enjoyable to watch.
No Exit
