‘Art’ takes a look at the bigger picture

An extravagantly white 5-by-6 foot painting is the catalyst for a serious reexamination of long-term friendships in Yasmina Reza’s ‘Art’, playing now through February 10th at the Delaware Theatre Company.

Serge (James Michael Reilly) has just purchased a 200,000 franc white painting – that’s right, a white background with white paint – and couldn’t be more proud. He is shocked at close friend Marc’s (Stephen Patrick Martin) strong disapproval, and fights to get the preoccupied and spineless Yvan’s (Pete Pryor) support.  What begins as a discrepancy over artistic taste spirals into the dramatic release of pent up frustrations towards each other, as well as their own deep-seated insecurities.

Clearly, the play is an examination of friendship, especially that between males (something which delves deeper than many are willing to investigate). But perhaps Reza had an even deeper, and yet somehow simpler, thought in creating ‘Art’. Each of the three men interpret Serge’s painting differently—in fact, completely opposite each other, in Serge and Marc’s case. Each of our lives, as Reza might have alluded to, is a blank canvas: it is only what we make of it.  And is it possible for a few people of entirely different outlooks on life to maintain a friendship?

One reason as to why director David Stradley’s interpretation of ‘Art’ is such a success is how accessible each character is, allowing every viewer to relate to the story in one way or another, thanks to superbly emotional and heartfelt acting.  Reilly, Martin, and Pryor somehow manage to evoke laughter in just the right places, if only because of the absurdity of it all (a white painting? Completely white?).  Pryor’s heartbreaking portrayal of Yvan stands out above the rest. Although he may have drawn the most laughs, partially due to his skittish and often humorously pathetic behavior, he also carried arguably the most emotionally heavy scenes of the play.

To highlight the stark white of the centerpiece of the show, Beowulf Boritt cleverly utilizes a minimal black set.  To differentiate between the three men’s apartments, only the paintings are switched out, while the rest of the furniture remains in tact throughout. This is a brilliant allusion to one of the core messages of ‘Art’: that each of us is not all that different from the next person; it is merely how we view our surroundings.

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