Hell is Other People
Three unlikely strangers meet in a waiting room. Each takes a ticket and waits for their number to be called. But what happens when their number is never called, the door locks & reality starts warping. Without the fire or torture devices, would you realise you were in hell?
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Laugh, cry & lose your mind with a visual & physical spectacle not for the fainthearted… this is hell after all…
OFFIE-nominated movement director Yvan Karlsson leads a group of Boorloo’s rising theatrical talent in this bold, non-verbal, reimagining of Jean Paul Sartre’s existentialist play ‘No Exit/Huis Clos’, that will change your perception of what physical theatre can be.
Winner
Outstanding Indvidual Performance
Timothy Green
Outstanding Direction or Choreography
Hell is Other People
All-Rounder
Yvan Karlsson
The Blue Room Theatre Awards, 2023
Winner
Best Independent Production (Theatre)
Hell Is Other People
Outstanding New Production (Theatre)
Hell Is Other People
Performing Arts WA Awards, 2024
Nominated
Outstanding Ensemble
Outstanding Design
Outstanding Writing or Dramaturgy
The Blue Room Theatre Awards, 2023
Nominated
Best Independent Production
Outstanding Direction
Yvan Karlsson
Outstanding Ensemble
(Theatre)
Outstanding Performer in a Leading Role
Timothy Green
Outstanding Stage Design
Yvan Karlsson
Outstanding New Work (Theatre)
Outstanding Newcomer (Theatre)
Performing Arts WA Awards, 2024
Performance Dates:
May 9 - 27 2023
The Blue Room Theatre​
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★★★★½
"Each cast member is able to insinuate so much in the subtlest of movements, with nuanced acting and impressive dramatic physicality...
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Brilliantly conceived and excellently executed, this is a production that will live in your mind rent free for the rest of your life."
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8/10
“A bold, confident, and striking piece of physical theatre...
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Hell is Other People was a delightful cross between the philosophical musings of The Good Place or Waiting for Godot, and the slapstick physicality of Chaplin or the Marx Brothers.
Image by BSP, 2023
Image by BSP, 2023
Image by Nicolee Fox, 2022
Image by BSP, 2023
“The genius of this reimagining of Sartre’s 1944 existentialist play No Exit … is that it’s told entirely in movement. No words, aside from the occasional – and entertaining – lip-synched song breaks that frame and punctuate the action.
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Green’s character is comic gold with his fixations, fascinations and neuroses, alongside his gloriously awkward physicality.”
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"It can be difficult to tell a story without dialogue, but Karlsson pulls it off. He manages to build so much tension on the stage without the actors uttering a single word.
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Hell as a waiting room. It's perfect"
Marisa Quinn-Haisu, Weekend Notes
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"The commitment of the performers is exceptional, and the four performers create an excellent ensemble... work beautifully with and against each other, in performances that would be difficult to fault.
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A must see for fans of No Exit, and those who really love physical theatre."
Kimberley Shaw, Stage Whispers
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"Throwing your hands in the air like you just don’t care gets a whole new meaning in hell.
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...this show will cast a cold fluorescent light on little things you didn’t know could be funny."
Team
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Director & Concept
Yvan Karlsson
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Performers
Tim Green
Lucy Wong
Kimberley Parkin
Nathan Di Giovanni
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Sound Designers
David Stewart
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Costume Designer
Rhiana Katz
Lighting Designer
Matthew Erren
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Dramaturg
Humphrey Bower