Review: Art - Mount Players - Macedon

Art by Yasmina Reza. Directed by Christina Finch. Cast: Marc – Andrew Blizzard, Serge – Adrian Munro and Yvan – Richard Barley. Presented by Mount Players.

Art is an intriguing play about the joys, frustrations and petty betrayals of friendship as experienced in this ever changing contemporary life, and dare I say, post-modern world. It could be likened to an extend episode of a French version of Seinfeld.
 

Through the perceptive, intelligent direction of Christina Finch, Yasmina Reza’s deftly-crafted award-winning play shines as a fascinating examination of checks and balances of friendship.

It is the story of three men who have maintained reliable, affirming and psychologically intimate relationships with each other, over a period of fifteen years. Then, ostensibly provoked by a seemingly out of character action – the purchase of an outrageously expensive painting by one of the trio – comfortable co-dependent relationships begin to flounder. We watch three men metaphorically stumble around, miscommunicating with wearisome disdain – where there was once the delight of reinforcing recognition.
 

This play has universal appeal in its exploration of the difficulties of maintaining positive connections and the disappointments of being taken for granted or misunderstood - as something we all experience. And curiously, the anxieties and discomfort suffered, are particularly vividly ‘thrown into relief’, by being embodied by males endowed with, perhaps unusually, heightened capacities for introspection.

Each of the characters is clearly drawn and convincingly interpreted by the actors. Ivan (Richard Barley) is a lively comic character with quick rhythms who is painfully keen to please. Andrew Blizzard’s Marc is a stolid presence with a hint of danger about him.  The extravagant yet ultimately reconciling Serge as played by Adrian Munro also serves the text well.

In support of her striking ‘less is more’ staging Ms. Finch has developed an arrangement of the traditional round ‘Three Blind Mice’ and composed some lively, aptly fusing incidental music for scene changes – delightful touches.

‘Are you who you think you are or are you who your friends think you are’?  A pertinent question posed by Faber for the publication of the script.
 

A thought provoking and memorable production.
 

Suzanne Sandow 

(For Stage Whispers)

Pictured: Adrian Munro as Serge (in white shirt), Andrew Blizzard as Marc (in red shirt) and Richard Barley as Yvan (in blue shirt).