FULL NO EXIT (Zachary M. Watkins) Sacramento CA Kaily Diggs, Jianna Eugenio, Pablo Frias, Enrique Huizar

Information on the Performance

• Work Title: NO EXIT  
• Composer: Watkins Zachary M.   
• Libretto: Zachary M. Watkins, adaptation of Jean-Paul Sartre's classic existential play  
• Venue & Opera Company: Cosumnes River College concert hall, Sacramento, California, Rogue Music Project, Cosumnes River College  
• Recorded: September 6, 2024
• Type: Concert Live

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE

No Exit (French: Huis clos, pronounced [ɥi klo]) is a 1944 existentialist French play by Jean-Paul Sartre. The play was first performed at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in May 1944. The play centers on a depiction of the afterlife in which three deceased characters are punished by being locked into a room together for eternity. It is the source of Sartre’s especially famous phrase “L’enfer, c’est les autres” or “Hell is other people”, a reference to Sartre’s ideas about the look and the perpetual ontological struggle of being caused to see oneself as an object from the view of another consciousness.

English translations have also been performed under the titles In Camera, No Way Out, Vicious Circle, Behind Closed Doors, and Dead End. The original title, Huis clos (‘closed door’), is the French equivalent of the legal term in camera (from Latin, ‘in a chamber’), referring to a private discussion behind closed doors.

Plot

Three damned souls, Joseph Garcin, Inèz Serrano, and Estelle Rigault, are brought to the same room in Hell and locked inside by a mysterious valet. They had all expected torture devices to punish them for eternity, but instead, find a plain room furnished in the style of the French “Second Empire”. At first, none of them will admit the reason for their damnation: Garcin says that he was executed for being an outspoken pacifist, while Estelle insists that a mistake has been made; Inèz, however, is the only one to demand that they all stop lying to themselves and confess to their moral crimes. She refuses to believe that they have all ended up in the room by accident and soon realizes that they have been placed together to make each other miserable. She deduces that they are to be one another’s torturers.

Garcin suggests that they try to leave each other alone and to be silent, but Inèz starts to sing and Estelle vainly wants to find a mirror to check on her appearance. Inèz tries to seduce Estelle by offering to be her “mirror” by telling her everything she sees but ends up frightening her instead. It is soon clear that Inèz is attracted to Estelle, Estelle is attracted to Garcin, and Garcin is not attracted to either of the two women.

After arguing, they decide to confess to their crimes so they know what to expect from each other. Garcin cheated on and mistreated his wife, and was executed by firing squad for desertion; Inèz is a manipulative sadist who seduced her cousin’s wife, Florence, while living with them and convinced her to leave her husband—the cousin was later hit and killed by a tram and Florence asphyxiated herself and Inèz by flooding the room with gas while they slept; and Estelle had an affair and then killed the resulting child, prompting the child’s father to die by suicide. Despite their revelations, they continue to get on each other’s nerves. Garcin finally begins giving in to the lascivious Estelle’s escalating attempts to seduce him, which drives Inèz crazy. Garcin is constantly interrupted by his own guilt, however, and begs Estelle to tell him that he is not a coward for attempting to flee his country during wartime. While she complies, Inèz mockingly tells him that Estelle is just feigning attraction to him so that she can be with a man—any man.

This causes Garcin to abruptly attempt an escape. After he repeatedly tries to open the door, it suddenly and inexplicably opens, but he is unable to bring himself to leave. The others remain as well. He says that he will not be saved until he can convince Inèz that he is not cowardly. She refuses to be persuaded, observing that he is obviously a coward and promising to make him miserable forever. Garcin concludes that, rather than torture devices or physical punishment, “hell is other people.” Estelle tries to persevere in her seduction of Garcin, but he says that he cannot have sex while Inèz is watching. Estelle, infuriated, picks up a paper knife and repeatedly stabs Inèz. Inèz chides Estelle, saying that they are all already dead, before Garcin finally concludes, “Eh bien, continuons…” (“Oh well, let’s continue…”).

Quoted from Wikipedia

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