Huis Clos and Other Plays

These three plays, diverse in subject but thematically coherent, illuminate one of Sartre’s major philosophical concerns: the struggle to live and act freely in a complex and constricting world.

• Lucifer and the Lord: Sartre’s favourite among his plays, explores this theme in depth, dealing in the process with fundamental questions of faith and disillusionment.
• Huis Clos: Arguably Sartre’s most important play, he contends that ‘Hell is other people’, and details the afterlife of three souls trapped together in a locked room and the torments that they inflict on each other.
• The Respectable Prostitute: Set in the Deep South of America, is concerned with racism, subjugation and the demands of conscience.