'Life begins on the other side of despair'

No Exit

by Jean-Paul Sartre

'Hell is other people'

No Exit is Sartre's most famous play, written during the Nazi occupation of Paris. The play centres around three strangers who find themselves in Hell.

'Sorry, I fear I am not good company among the dead'

About the play

Welcome to our production of No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre. The production is the fruition of many months work and we would like to thank the tireless effort of everyone involved. It has been a roller-coaster ride of emotions to put on No Exit. We hope you will enjoy this show, which has grown so close to our hearts.

The Great Barn was built in 1295 and is the oldest wooden structure still standing in the United Kingdom. It provides the perfect setting for this morality play. The issues this play raises are ones of freedom and responsibility. For Sartre existence is the will to project oneself in the future. Where man has no power to create his future, as in the setting of this play, he ceases to exist and that is hell.

This play is an example of expert craftsmanship. The audience learns very slowly about the facts surrounding the three characters. No Exit contains essential elements of existential thought such as 'l'enfer, c'est les autres'; 'Hell is other people'.

Working in partnership with Hillingdon Arts, Holdfast Theatre Company is delighted and proud to present Sartre's No Exit in the Great Barn.

'Will night never come?'

Who was Jean-Paul Sartre?

Born in 1905, Jean-Paul Sartre believed that philosophical arguments were most persuasive when presented as fiction. Unlike works such as Voltaire's Candide, Sartre's work rejected allegory, and outlined many of his most complicated ideas in a thinly veiled narrative format. As a result many of the themes in the play support Sartre's arguments in the larger philosophical work. No Exit was written in 1944.

Sartre was interested in the nature of existence, freedom & consciousness, developing a movement called existentialism. Sartre defined existentialism as the doctrine that "existence precedes essence." He distinguished between inanimate objects, or a "being-in-itself," and human consciousness, or a '"being-for-itself." Sartre claimed that if one is happy it is by one's own free choice. In this sense, humans exist and then define and choose their essence.

War and tragedy influenced many of Sartre's ideas. In his small circle of intellectuals participating in the Resistance, Sartre was able to develop many of his ideas with future literati, including Simone de Beauvoir and Albert Camus. No Exit has often been compared to living in Paris during the occupation. In this context, Sartre examined such issues as freedom, self-deception, and the nature of time in the play to help fellow French men and women cope with the ordeal of defeat both during the war and after.

'Well Estelle, am I a coward?'

Director's thoughts

Sartre sought to synthesise many of his philosophical arguments with fiction. Yet in a play about "self-deception" and "bad faith" the implicit double entendre of characters "play-acting" and actors pretending to play those characters, perfectly complements Sartre's straightforward philosophical argument. The characters constantly look for mirrors in order to avoid the judging gaze of each other, while their failure is played out in the constant stare of the audience.

The play's central themes of freedom and responsibility come from Sartre's doctrine that "existence precedes essence.'" Sartre believed that human consciousness, or a "being-for-itself," differed from inanimate objects, or a "being-in-itself," since humans have the ability to choose and define themselves. With freedom of choice comes personal responsibility.

Estelle does not believe she exists unless she can see herself in a mirror, Inez cannot stand Garcin looking at her because she thinks that he is automatically judging her. Garcin's mere existence thus reduces her feelings of autonomy. Equally, Garcin believes his "fate" is the evaluation of his past actions by others. Inez however, sees her past as meaningless, choosing to exist in the present instead.

Using three people and an empty room, Sartre evokes scenes of utter torture and despair, establishing Sartre's underlying argument of the play: "Hell is other people.".

'Did you suffer much?'

Thanks to:

WSR for their provision of lighting supporting this production.