Young Critics

Could you and your best friends be nearly torn apart by a piece of modern art? Most people would respond with a resounding “no, you silly person, that’s crazy talk. I mean, no one would ever care that much about some piece of art?” Oh, but the characters of ‘Art’ written by Yasmina Reza and translate by Christopher Hampton, did which is where Delaware Theatre Company’s production brings us. A brief, yet enjoyable, look into a world many a suburban Delawarean could scarcely ever dream of: Paris, France. A place where people debate culture and art with the kind of SAT words you told yourself you would never have to know in real life. Where a man will buy a piece of art that looks like, and in fact, actually is, a plain white canvas, for a small fortune. Where three grown men with life-long friendships will almost throw all those years away over that white canvas and the heated discussions it prompts.

The cast of three was a marvel to watch as they executed this dialogue heavy script that never had your attention wanders. James Michael Reilly soars as Serge. He achieves the very personification of intellectual pomp and neurosis without ever being over the top. Stephen Patrick Martin does extremely well as Marc, a radical desperately trying to hold onto his identity and friendship without giving up his pride. Marc’s internal struggle is ever-present through out Martin’s performance. Pete Pryor, playing the role of Yvan, does excellently as the lovable and abused Yvan. His ability to both shows genuine serious emotion while still keeping his lines light-hearted and comedic was a special treat. Each actor expertly radiated their own character’s energy while bouncing off the other character’s vibes.

The dynamic characters written by playwright Yasmina Reza couldn’t be more perfectly juxtaposed. Serge and Marc get involved in the most nit-picking and meticulous arguments over things like pathos and modernity, things I couldn’t even define let alone discuss at length. Just as the general opinion of the audience becomes “are these guys kidding?” – the undeniably likeable Yvan comes in as the voice of appeasement and reason. He is then immediately shot back down into his place of inferiority once again by one snide remark from either friend. Reza succeeds in making a universally relatable play about characters intellectuals that could seem unrelatable and foreign to many people. She achieves this by paralleling conversations heavy in extreme intellectualism but still acknowledging the predicted responses of her audience to the plot’s absurdity.

The set was striking, unique, and decisively modern. Set Designer Beowulf Boritt confidently and brilliantly strikes the balance between a somewhat “abstract” set while still having the scenery add substantially to the experience of the production. Two, large, square-gritted panels of tinted glass frame the onyx platform of the apartment’s form cleverly creating the allusion of urban apartment windows. The furniture was the ultimate in Ikea cool with its sleek chrome lines and black leather. The sleek and modern furniture help add to the mood of urban sophistication that surrounds the characters and dialogue of the play, making it one of my personal favorite sets of DTC’s season.

The script for ‘Art’ calls for the sets of all three apartments to be the same space. The artistic team worked beautifully at tackling the challenge of creating the atmosphere of three different people’s apartments without changing furniture or scenery. Most notably meeting this challenge is lighting designer Joshua Schulman who assigns each character a different color of light for their apartment. Their corresponding color is splayed against the back wall that has been covered in large sheets of crinkled-parchment. The color for each apartment is also instrumental in portraying the overall mood and demeanor of each character, even matching their costumes (designed by Charlotte Cloe Fox Wind).