Art (tour)

Yasmina Reza‘s award-winning Art hits the regional scene again this spring. This stylishly crafted and sophisticated French comedy moves forward from a disagreement, whose apparent pettiness belies its power to act as a catalyst for complex underlying tensions in a previously uncompromised triangle of friendship.

Deconstruction in the form of an abstract painting is the metaphorical trigger for the disintegration of the long-standing bonhomie between middle-aged friends Marc, Serge and Yvan. As they unscrupulously dissect and attack each other’s character, it becomes obvious that Art‘s forte lies in its well-conceptualised debate that exposes the apparently fragile framework on which their relationship perilously hangs.

Marc, the eldest of the trio, precipitates the disagreement over a white-on-white painting Serge has acquired for a staggering 200,000 francs. The painting represents everything that Marc opposes in art; he is a traditionalist and views Serge’s ostentatious splash as a rejection of his values and of himself. But then Yvan enters the equation and the dominoes really start to tumble. Unlike the opinionated Marc, Yvan is complacent and indifferent. His excuse for not engaging in the debate is his impending marriage, which carries its own burdens. In fact, Yvan is a man who doesn’t wish to offend and, although he secretly shares Marc’s perspective, he prefers to endorse Serge’s choice.

Christopher Hampton‘s translation works well in a British setting, whilst Rachel Kavanaugh‘s astute direction moves the proceedings along at a brisk but intelligible pace that conveys immediacy. Art has often been praised for its ability to constantly re-invent itself over the course of a five-year run in the West End. Its frequent cast changes – more numerous than in Neighbours – undoubtedly help rather than hinder this reinvention.

The touring cast is every bit as impressive as those that have graced the West End, and indeed two of the trio have already appeared there. The familiar faces – Roger Lloyd-Pack as the droopy Yvan, Nigel Havers as modern art sybarite Serge, and Barry Foster (replaced by Gordon Alcock on this review night) as the high-brow censurer Marc – dispense their wordy lines with just the right degree of pathos. Lloyd-Pack’s long-winded speech about wedding invitations is particularly funny.

My only qualm with Art is that, in the overall scheme of things, above and beyond the cultural and aesthetic value of art, there’s a certain absurdity about a plot in which three grown men (who should know better) permit such a material triviality to permeate and almost destroy their relationship. Perhaps in allowing the situation, Reza is acknowledging that, in the dynamics of cause and effect, the causal factor really is sometimes as insignificant as an uninterrupted white painting.

Emma Edgeley