Critique.

Monica Hunt.


As the scary, unique play "No Exit" takes your stereotypes about plays, it molds them
into something new! This play has a dark storyline, ruthless and selfish characters, no happy ending, and much more. As this play is unique, it also has its faults and boring conflicts that make this play want you to "EXIT".

The play "No Exit" is about three sinners who pay the ultimate price for their sins and must spend eternity in solitude with each other. As painless as that sounds, the characters find themselves yearning for their Earth life and their temptations as they rely on companionship with their fellow roommates. Cradeau, Estelle, and Inez all are brought together by a sarcastic, cunning bellboy. (Played by Jacob Uhlman.)

As the bellboy enters the room Uhlman impressed the audience. Uhlman brought such cunning comedic relief for this very dark play. He played the bellboy brilliantly flamboyant and mean by somehow torturing the new guests. By not answering the bell, to coming at their call, every scene Uhlman was in he stole the show! His sarcastic remarks and body language helped the audience ease into the play and enjoy it more! After he would leave the audience gave off the feeling of wanting more bellboy!!!

Cradeau (played by Brenton Pfaff) , a wifebeater, killing machine was the other male part of this play. Pfaff played such a hated character so well. His sadistic thinking habits and his horniness got to the best of this character. Pfaff brought such a disliked reaction from the audience, to even where they felt pity for the character as he wanted company and missed his life on Earth. Although Pfaff played Cradeau very well, he cracked up during a few scenes with quarreling with Inez. Cradeau also kept mentioning how he was naked, when he was fully clothed. Yes, being naked on stage might cause some concern for conservative viewers, why not change the dialouge where he isn't talking about being naked? It just didn't make sense to be talking about that, while Cradeau was fully clothed.

The character of Inez was a sarcastic, rude, lesbian that brought a obnoxious comic relief, that was much needed. Played by Bethany Shuford, Inez always was always at the throat of Cradeau and constantly putting him down to catch the attention of Estelle. Shuford had her moments where her character was believable and others where it was too "acted out". For instance, Shufords constant shouting was a sound that got uncomfortable listening to. Yes, the theater is small and it's understandable to speak diction and loudly while performing, it was a little too much at times. Her wardrobe was a big distraction as well. The pants bottoms were way too bell bottom seventies and made noises and distracted the audience from what she was saying. Yes, the play takes place in the past, but the costuming for Shufords character should have been handled more properly to her height. Shuford played sarcastic well, but every time she would laugh, it sounded so staged and forced, instead of a real laugh. Shuford often stole the scene, but would "act" too much and was a major distraction.

Estelle was the other woman trapped in the room. Estelle, (Shadia Ghantous), was a spoiled bitchy, Paris Hilton type character that was a bit promiscuous and VERY vain. Ghantous showed Estelle as a very beautiful, but extremely self conscious, emotional, sad woman. Which was great at first. But Ghantous played Estelle almost exactly like the bitchy, model character in "A Party to Murder", it just felt like part two for that character. Yes, Estelle is supposed to be very into her looks, it just seems that the character was too "Paris Hilton" like to keep any interest in Estelle at all.

Although, this is not the actors fault, the play just draggggggggggggggsssssssss on and loses the interest of many audience members. After a while butts were hurting, eyes were drooping, and drool was forming as the characters talked more about themselves. Watching this got really monotonous and boring.

Alright, enough mean things, some positives of this play was the lighting! The lighting was really well done and showed the emotions of the characters! Also, Estelle's outfit was gorgeous and whoever did her hair has talent! The hairstyle gave the vibes of the time Estelle lived in and the outfit definitely fit her characters personality! The stage also was really nice! For once, I could see the play very well and could see the characters reactions well! Having the seats so close to the stage really helped the audience get into the show and appreciate the scenes more, actually being able to see them better! Another nice quality of the show is, there was no intermission, so there wasn't any wait to see the fate of the characters!

"No Exit" takes the ordinary plays and flips them upside down. Having no happy ending, likeable characters, and dramatic scenes on every page, it surely pleased a lot of the members watching the show!