Alright, dear readers, imagine being led by a strangely stand-offish butler to a room without any idea of what's going on. You are the first to arrive. Then enter two people of the opposite sex, but not together. The room is in a strange old style and no one knows what you are doing there. In talking to the other guests, you discover that one repulses you and the other attracts you. And naturally the one that repulses is attracted to you, and the one to whom you are attracted finds the third member attractive and you repulsive. All of you argue.

Huis Clos (most likely better known and understood by E2-ians as No exit) is, simply, hell. They come to this room not knowing why or what or where or even when. They don't want to be there, they don't like one another, and in the end, they realize that they will ALWAYS be there. For ever...

Sartre (1905-'80; he turned down the Nobel Prize) puts into question our existences and what comes thereafter, all in a play, that can easily be read in an afternoon by the pool in North Carolina. (ok, that's just me...)


More info:

Written in 1943 in about 2 weeks time for three actor friends.
Became one of the key plays in existenialism.


In German : "Geschlossene Gesellschaft"