The Other People Are Back. Do They Ever Leave? Sartre’s ‘No Exit’ Staged at Pearl Theater Company
David RooneyMarch 12, 2014: Unlike poor deluded Blanche DuBois, nobody in Jean-Paul Sartre’s bleakly comic existential thesis, No Exit, depends on the kindness of strangers. At least not for long. The principal characters in this needling 1944 one-act play, being revived by the Pearl Theater Company, learn the hard way that “Hell is just — other people.” Directed by Linda Ames Key in a translation from the French by Paul Bowles, the production unfolds on a set by Harry Feiner that might almost be an antechamber of some suffocating minimalist-chic boutique hotel, with its elegant couches in contrasting colors and its towering statement sculpture nestled in the corner. At least the bellhop (Pete McElligott) is courteous, if somewhat smug and evasive. But what’s that junkyard tangle out of “Hoarders” faintly visible beyond the translucent walls? And why are the guests obliged to share accommodations?
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