Is ‘Art’ Worth Your While?

With a show that only has three actors and being called ‘Art’ how could it possibly be funny, or that interesting? A lot of people have different views on art so how can someone make a play about it? To a lot of people, these are some major problems with the play. I personally have a debate on weather or not I really like this play or if I like it but not as much. With only three actors I thought they did a brilliant job bringing to life these three characters. I found it amazing that the actors act as if there was a big difference in the option of art when they are so close friends. If you think about it the whole play is based around a piece of art. As the play goes on though you start to see that there are other problems that are bubbling up inside of them. So I would have to say that the play ‘Art’ is a well thought out and all round funny play. Playing at the Delaware Theatre Company, ‘Art’ includes three actors and a plain setting.

‘Art’ is set in the apartments of three close friends who live in France. When one of the friends, Serge, buys a painting for a large amount of money the other friend, Marc, absolutely doesn’t understand. While the two friends fight over weather or not the painting was worth if their third friend, Yvan, tries to be the peacemaker. Unfortunately the peacemaker can make the problem worse. Trying to make both happy he actually makes them a little angrier. If that were not enough add in that Yvan is getting married to someone that is pushing him over. Through the whole play the different point of views of the friends clash with each other while they have other stuff to worry about, like Yvan’s wedding.

A three-man show needs some awesome actors to pull it off. With Pete Pryor, Stephen Patrick Martin, and James Michael Reilly a lot of the audience was at the edge of their seats through the entire thing. Pete Pryor, playing Yvan, is the friend that wants to please all. The sad thing is that no one can ever please everyone. Yvan is getting married and sometimes acts like a big kid that is unsure of what to do. Mr. Pryor makes everyone want to just give him advice. At one point Yvan spins on the floor like a little kid throwing a fit. Pete Pryor has an awesome way of putting his trouble out into the audience. When he gives a monolog of a conversation between him, his mother, and his soon to be wife, a lot of the audience were laughing and seemed to understand what he was going through. Some people can, probably, understand having a conversation like this where there is no way for you to win. Also in the show is the actor Stephen Patrick Martin as Marc. Marc is the friend that everyone has, with the personality of a downer. He is someone that can be a little hurtful if you didn’t know them for a long time. With a character like that, you might think that it would be hard, but he makes it seem so easy and like it was normal. The last of the actors is James Michael Reilly who plays Serge. Serge is a smart guy that has an odd sense of modern art. He is the one that just can’t help but have the approval of his friends. Mr. Reilly was a great choice with his high voice, the height difference with him and the others, and facial expressions everyone was laughing when he talked by himself. These three actors are brilliant and work so well together that you think that they have been friends forever.

Not all credit goes to the actors; you have to give it to David Stradley, the director. Stradley really showed how people can be so caught up in something and did not realize that they are losing something. With his directing and the scenic designer, Beowulf Boritt, the whole atmosphere of the play really drew the audience into it. With a background that is so simple you get more of the feeling that the plain painting is showed in the black on black background. It also shows that these three friends are a lot more alike then they even realize, with the only thing that changes is a painting or two on the walls. Where the stage is two reflective walls and a reflective floor, it makes your eyes draw to the two or three small object (like a book, and more) that are a bright vivid color. 

The audience was laughing and so interested in the characters that you could really tell that almost everyone enjoyed it. The light designer, Joshua Schulman, brings your eye to a specific spots on the stage. Using the lights he makes it so that your eyes focus on the character and the still frame of the rest of the people. The sound designer, Mark Valenzuela, brings the audience closer to the plot by making the normal sounds louder and more noticed. With that some of the audience felt like they were in an apartment.

 Back