No Exit
This dance-theatre work is inspired by Jean Paul Sartre’s play, No Exit, in which three strangers are condemned to hell, an overheated sitting room with a locked door. Fujiwara was intrigued by the complex relationships found in No Exit and felt they presented rich fodder from which a dance could be abstracted. Some kind of truth about real relationships complete with pathology, pathos and whimsy resonates in the play, exemplifying Sartre’s proposition, “Hell is other people”. On the surface one could consider the prospects of No Exit’s characters and the play itself to be rather discouraging, however, the cast enjoyed its intelligence and wry humour. The dancers gave generously and courageously of their talents in the creative process. There was a lot of laughter, (some crying), but overall the work caused Fujiwara to appreciate that the opposite of Sartre’s proposition is also true, that ‘heaven is other people’.
Credits
Choreographer: Denise Fujiwara
Created with and performed by (in order of appearance):
Miko Sobreira: Garcin
Sasha Ivanochko: as Inez
Rebecca Hope Terry: as Estelle
Music: Philip Strong
Set & costume design: Camellia Koo
Lighting design: Roelof Peter Snippe
Dramaturg: Elizabeth Langley
Fight Director: Daniel Levinson
Theatre Coaches: Erika Batdorf, Philip Shepherd
Tour Rehearsal Director: Philip Shepherd
Reviews
★★★★/★★★★
“Fun” might not be the best word to describe Denise Fujiwara’s dance inspired by Jean-Paul Sartre’s play, No Exit, although it contains comic moments.
Three white chairs and a tall thin table are the only furnishings on a square white surface that marks the stifling, locked waiting room where three condemned sinners await their fate. Struggling first to ignore each other, and then to make some kind of three-way connection, each suffers – anxiety, fear of death, fear of others, hope for escape – all these turns of mind and more are expressed in play so precisely performed it needs no words.”
A triumphant end to the 30th season of DanceWorks, this show makes for a tough act to follow in the season to come.
Susan Walker, Toronto Star, April 27, 2007
There’s no script here, nothing’s literal or mimed, and yet it is not exactly “danced” in a traditional way either. – The three damned souls are immediately recognizable, brought to life by a trio as gifted at movement as at acting. Taut, chilling, and darkly funny.”
Janet Smith, Georgia Straight, January 17, 2013
