Friends Don’t Let Friends See “Art”

Anyone who goes to see Yasmina Reza’s ‘Art’ should probably bring a watch. That’s because for most of the play, you’ll be checking to see how much time is left. Directed by David Stradley, ‘Art’ plays at the Delaware Theatre Company through to February 10.  It runs for only ninety minutes (with no intermission) but it feels like so much longer.

‘Art’ takes place in Paris and revolves around the story of three male friends, Yvan, Marc, and Serge. Their friendship is tested when Serge purchases a work of art (a blank white canvas) for a considerable amount of money. A fight ensues between Marc and him about whether or not the ‘painting’ is truly art. Yvan is caught in the middle and struggles to please both Marc and Serge. The dialogue is scattered with monologues where the individual characters speak to the audience (these might be the highlights of the script). The characters clash over deeper things then art and struggle to maintain their friendships.    

‘Art’ is filled with profanity; so if you do take a chance and go see the play, do not bring your children. Though profanity is mostly used during the intense verbal battles between the characters, it is still widespread throughout the play. I found it was unnecessary and did nothing to spice up the overall boring dialogue of the play. 

My first problem with ‘Art’ is the plot itself. Is a painting really so powerful that it can cause strain on friendships? Even if the fighting was about issues besides the painting, I find it hard to believe a painting would be the catalyst for such a fight. But if a painting were to cause such a fight, it wouldn’t say much for the friendship. There had to have been previous issues (that might never have been stated) and frustrations with one another. The fight, then, could not really have been about the painting at all. The characters were dissatisfied with one another’s flaws.  Another problem I have with ‘Art’ was its being mislabeled. It was originally a French “comedy”, but I found nothing funny about this play. I sat in silence for most of it, waiting for the jokes to begin (they never did). Not everyone seems to feel this way about ‘Art’ though. As I sat in silence, the audience roared with laughter at nearly everything the actors did. They applauded enthusiastically at the play’s close and seemed to enjoy it entirely. Perhaps a person with more life experience would enjoy this play, and be able to get more from it then I did. 

Maybe the reason I despised this play was because I could not relate to or feel sympathy for anybody in it. I was not pleased with the lack of female characters. As a teenage girl, I’d like to see a woman do something more than be mentioned in conversation. I’m not exactly certain why a female writer would choose to write about three men. Perhaps she felt she could relate better to them, or she thought with three women the play would be too clichéd. Maybe she was trying to show a different side to men.In my effort to try to relate to these characters, I thought of them as American. This didn’t work though, because the men I know of don’t act like the characters in the play. This could be because I haven’t been around long enough to be exposed to men who act that way. A person who is older or has lived through more may be inclined to think differently about the play and its three main characters.
           
I didn’t absolutely detest everything in the play though. The actors did the best they could with a drab script. I particularly enjoyed Pete Pryor’s performance as the neurotic Yvan. A long speech about his upcoming wedding received enthusiastic applause at its end. Stephen Patrick Martin as Marc was very good in his role as the betrayed friend, and he fought fiercely against the painting. Finally, James Michael Reilly as Serge managed to get a few laughs from me as he insisted his friends look at the painting from a certain angle in order to comprehend its full meaning.

An interesting set by Beowulf Boritt distracted me from the plot as well. I found the background of crinkled paper and large hanging glass boxes grabbed my attention, more so than the play. The set was extremely modern and contemporary, which suited this type of play.

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