An unnamed man, simply called "The Man" is trapped in a cubical white room where anyone else can enter and leave, but which he himself apparently cannot leave. A stool is brought in covered in strawberry jam, the furniture changes throughout the play. The main character, is subjected to an increasingly puzzling and frustrating series of encounters, as a variety of people come through various hidden doors. But, as many remind him, he can only leave through his own door, so he must find it to leave.
Direction
Henson's puppeteer eye for uncanny spaces, zero puppets needed.
Production
The cube itself: minimalist set design that traps you too.
Writing
Absurdist dialogue that stings with bureaucratic familiarity.
Director
Jim Henson
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Henson made this between seasons of Sesame Street, airing on NBC as a one-off experiment. Network executives reportedly had no idea what to do with it.
A direct descendant of No Exit and precursor to Cube (1997), this obscure TV play influenced decades of single-location psychological horror that forgot to credit its puppeteer father.
US
