No Exit
Three people arrive in a Second Empire drawing room furnished as a hell with no mirrors, no windows, and no sleep, and gradually discover they are each other's torturers.
Summary
Garcin, Inez, and Estelle arrive separately in a Second Empire drawing room. No torturer comes. No obvious punishment. The room has no windows, no mirrors, and the lights never go off. Gradually they learn that they are each other's punishment.
Garcin is a journalist who ran from the war and was executed for desertion, and he needs to believe he died for his principles. That verdict is one he cannot reach on his own, so he demands it from Inez. Inez knows exactly what she is and what everyone else is, and weaponizes her clarity. Estelle needs a man's desire to feel real. None of them can give the others what they need, and none of them can leave.
"Hell is other people" is the play's famous line and it is usually quoted out of context. Sartre means something narrower: hell is needing another consciousness to ratify your self-image, and getting back either a refusal or a verdict you can't accept. The three are locked in mutual bad faith, defining themselves through other people's eyes instead of their own choices, which is Sartre's definition of inauthenticity.
The play runs under two hours and the argument lands without padding. The door opens partway through, once the three have settled into their dynamic, and none of them leaves. The imprisonment they complain about is one they keep choosing.
Quotes
"Hell is other people."
"You are — your life, and nothing else."