A classic absurdist play, Ionesco wrote the play while
trying to learn the English language, thus much of the nonsensical quality of
the script is a direct reflection of Ionesco’s opinion on the English
communication style – both our way of speaking and our way of listening.Mr. and Mrs. Smith are a traditional English
couple who live in a traditional English home and have invited a traditional
English couple over for dinner.Mr. and
Mrs. Martin arrive, followed soon after by the Fire Chief who turns out to be
an old flame of the Smiths’ maid.They
begin to recite stories and poems and logically try to work out what is
illogical in the world which just leads to chaos and more absurdism in the end.
CAST
Mr. Smith – Conor Walsh
Mrs. Smith – Isabella Carter
Mr. Martin – Nicholas McNeil
Mrs. Martin – Amelia Haas
Fire Chief – JT McNeil
Maid – Lily Melcher
No Exit
By Jean-Paul Sartre
Place yourself within a relatively bare room from which you
cannot escape with the two people you despise the most, and you have just
placed yourself in the shoes of Sartre's characters, Garcin, Inez, and Estelle.
This existential idea that "Hell is other people" is the underlying
theme throughout his 1944 play, No Exit.It’s a small room with
hideous furniture and no torture devices – except for the other people in the
room.As Garcin, Inez, and Estelle each
try to ignore one another, expose one another, and help one another, they
realize in the end they have been put here to hurt one another.One by one, they lose touch with the outside
world, and thus only exist in each other’s minds.Realizing they need each other, they settle
down for the first time in acceptance of their new “life”.
