A sweltering hot August night was the perfect atmosphere for the opening night of "No Exit," Jean Paul Sartre’s trip through his particular and peculiar vision of hell.

The Dale Gutzman-directed production at Off The Wall Theatre is an eloquent and searing journey through the existential mind. It also marks the farewell performance for Patrick McCann, a veteran of Gutzman’s troupe who is off to study at the prestigious Bristol Old Vic in England.

"Exit" is set in hell, but throughout the play, I was yanked hither and yon trying to figure out just kind of hell this was.

This particular version of hell is home for three people. Cradeau (McCann), a Palestinian, is the first to arrive. He is soon joined by Inez (Alicia Rice), a lesbian secretary. And finally we see Estelle (Zoe Schwartz), a high falutin' tart who knows she has the goods and isn’t afraid to use them.

Existentialism is a philosophy grounded in individual freedom and the ability of the individual to control his own destiny. A key element to an existential life is to be real, authentic. That authenticity and both the search for it and the drive to avoid it are at the heart of this play.

Cradeau has ended up in hell after a life of dishonesty, including brazen affairs with women in his home, with his wife downstairs. The crowing offense is collaboration with the enemy in the war between his Palestine and Israel. He was executed with a dozen bullets piercing his leather jacket.

Inez was involved in a torrid affair with a married woman and turned her against her husband, who was Inez’s cousin. The wife, distraught over the suicide of her husband, turned on the gas and climbed into bed with Inez as death slowly came to the door.

And finally there is Estelle, cute and sexy and wrapped up in herself. Estelle married an older man for money, had an affair with a young lover, bore his child and threw the child off a balcony to crash against the rocks of the sea. Her lover blew his face off in grief.

Both Estelle and Cradeau are possessed by a drive to deny their sins. Cradeau is a constant beggar for validation that he is not "a coward." Estelle is wary of the seductions of Inez and seeks solace with "manly men," which she tries to convince Cradeau he is.

It is Inez who sees hell the clearest, both hers and the hell that entraps the other two. She understands that the fear of both Estelle and Cradeau to be something they are not is useless in their own personal hell.

"There is no fear here," she says. "Fear was for before, when we still had hope."

This production is just what we’ve come to expect from Gutzman, who loves for his productions to live on the edge. This play is not widely known, and it has a danger to it that Gutzman makes sure is present from the opening moments, the haunting sound of a beating heart driving through the all white set.

Both Rice and Schwartz are new to Off The Wall, and both bring a new energy and skill that will hopefully find them in future productions.

Rice gives her Inez both a dispassionate and resigned character with the ability to laugh at the others and rail at them with towering passion. She has a buttoned up body hiding the heart of a seductress.

Schwartz has an earthiness about her, mixing the sweetness of a young girl with the guile of the sexual maiden. She's cute, but has a depth of expression that turns her into a woman of substance. 

McCann has grown over the years, largely under the steady-handed guidance of Gutzman. His future with the Old Vic seems to be an opportunity that may well open many theatrical doors for him.

"No Exit" runs through Aug. 21 and information on tickets and showtimes is available here.