"Hell is other people" is the famous line from Jean-Paul Sartre's "No Exit." Hell could also be described -- for me, anyway, and probably a lot of more casual theatregoers -- as having to sit through any production of the 1944 existentialist play, even a fine staging like the one currently on the boards at Diversionary Theatre.

Steven Lone, Monique Gaffney and Rhianna Basore

Copyright©2008 Ken Jacques

Despite the play's foreboding title, at the performance attended, Diversionary artistic director Dan Kirsch dutifully reminded the audience to note the theatre's emergency exits, and indeed one patron did rather conspicuously make use of the door for an early mid-show exit, shuffling out the front row just inches away from the performers. Perhaps it was the difficulty of making a discreet exit from the intimate space, as evidenced by said patron, that prevented any of the rest from attempting to do the same. Instead, many of my fellow theatregoers seemed content to nap here and there for the duration of the play's 90 intermissionless minutes.

That being said, director Esther Emery has created an onstage hell true to Sartre's vision. If "No Exit" seems a work better left to college theatre departments than to a LGBT company, devotees of Sartre can find a solid period staging here.

Set designer Jungah Han's gray-dominated hotel room looks inviting enough, until you realize that for the three main characters, it's all they're going to see. This is no ordinary hotel, after all, but a hell where the three are destined to spend all eternity.

The three are played by an able trio of performers. Steven Lone is journalist Cradeau, Rhianna Basore is pretty blonde Estelle, and filling lesbian postal clerk Inez's sensible shoes is Monique Gaffney.

Kevin Morrison appears briefly as the fourth character, the "hotel" bellboy.

Steven Lone and Kevin Morrison

Copyright©2008 Ken Jacques

Costume designer Jennifer Brawn Gittings outfits the four in attractive period wear, and wig designer Missy Bradstreet goes all out with Ms. Basore's platinum femme fatale 'do.

If "No Exit" isn't necessarily the most entertaining production Diversionary has ever produced, it's sure to have its share of fans out there.

As for me, I'm glad there was indeed an exit.

Post-show, of course.