Hell will ascend to Bowdoin's Wish Theatre this weekend.
Jean-Paul Sartre's play "No Exit," which premiered Thursday night, will be performed today and Saturday at 8:00 p.m.
After nearly two months of rehearsals, the student-run theatre group Masque and Gown presents Sartre's dramatization of a single room of hell to which the three main characters are condemned for eternity.
Although "No Exit," perhaps Sartre's best-known work, is one of the foremost treatises on existentialist philosophy, director Carla Cambiasso Helfer '06 is quick to stress the personal aspect of this production.
"Because ['No Exit'] is so over-reaching and can be interpreted in so many ways, balance of looking at the broad philosophical aspect and the experience of the particular human aspects of the characters involved is very important," she said.
The stress on humanity becomes evident throughout the long silences when the viewer watches the condemned characters?Joseph Garcin (Thomas Blaber '10), Inez Serrano (Caitlin Hylan '09), and Estelle Rigault (Kathleen Lewis '10)?ruminating over their fates, and through the intensity of the interactions among the three.
"When I was working with the actors, I was making sure to focus on the human element of the story, on not getting lost in it being an abstract idea but to also emphasize the specifically human characteristics of it," Hefler said.
Nonetheless, Sartre's philosophy, essentially that people are defined exclusively by their actions and that self-perception is distorted by others, remains an integral part of the production.
Indeed, it is hard to underplay Sartre's most famous words, spoken economically by the character Garcin: "Hell is other people."
Garcin, a journalist guilty of torture and cowardice, comes to this conclusion after spending months in hell with Inez, a sadistic lesbian postal clerk, and Estelle, a beautiful Parisian lady who has been unfathomably cruel to the people closest to her.
The three, all of whom are installed in their room by the haughty valet (Seth Kelley '10), spend the first few months of eternity with nothing more than three couches, a lamp, a bronze statue, and a paper knife?not the usual conception of hell, but one that, according to Helfer, is perfect for theatrical interpretation.
"It's this hell and it's one room but the way you create that world is up to the directors and the actors," she said.
Helfer also stressed that the process of creating Sartre's hell and its characters was very much a group effort that involved theater veterans, as well as first years.
"We worked very much as a team and as an ensemble to put together a joint vision," Helfer said.
"Very early on, I already had a direction in mind, and all together we helped fill that in with details and images and thoughts that related to the time period," she added.
For Helfer, the best part of the experience has been getting the chance to work with youn talent.
"One of the great things about this is bringing in new people and watching the learning curve?it's a very well-rounded opportunity to get involved in theatre," she said.
"No Exit" is showing Wish Theater at 8:00 p.m. tonight and Saturday in Wish Theater. The performance is open to the public. Tickets are available for $1 at Smith Union Info Desk.