Lalit Gupta
JAMMU, June 30: ‘Jean-Paul Sartre’s 1944 one-act play ‘No Exit’ which pushes his existentialist thesis to an extreme was staged by Amateur Theatre Group, at the Abhinav Theatre, here today.
Designed and directed by Mushtaq as an ‘academic exercise’, today’s intimate presentation notwithstanding its highly abstract content emerged as an intense theatrical experience for the audience.
Translated into Hindi by the cast and director, the play opened with a courteous, but smug and evasive Valet bringing three condemned souls thrown together for eternity in a bleak room with minimum props like a sculpture nestled in a corner, two seats on each side and a ladder conspicuously placed in the center.
The three characters were Joseph Garcin, a morally compromised journalist who would like to believe he died a hero; Estelle, flirtatious women who married a wealthy old man and then played around with fatal consequences; and Inez, a lesbian home wrecker. It’s at her insistence that all three drop their phony facades and confess their wrongdoing. Despite their revelations, the trio continues to get on each other’s nerves. Garcin finally gives into Estelle’s attempts to seduce him, driving Inez crazy. He begs Estelle to tell him he is not a coward for attempting to flee his country during wartime. When Inez tells him that Estelle is just agreeing with him so she can be with a man, Garcin tries to escape. He says that he will not be saved until Inez has faith in him. She refuses, promising to make him miserable forever. Forgetting that they are all dead, Estelle unsuccessfully tries to kill Inez, stabbing her repeatedly. Shocked at the absurdity of his fate, Garcin concludes, “Hell is other people.”
With only a token support of light design and background score, today’s was undoubtedly a show of acting prowess by the cast of young actors who led by Delight Sarah William as Estelle Rigault, Sunaina Kumari as Inez Serrano, Mohit Mehra as Joseph Garcin and Mridul Anand as Valet animated the stage with bold and emotion-laden brisk dialogues, supported by measured and well timed movements. Sandeep Rattan Verma was the Technical Director of the play.
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