February 4, 2009
Art is quintessentially a play about relationships. Nothing new there, but Art is about the relationships between three male friends, something not that common in theatre.
The Burton Taylor is decked with a table holding glasses and some water and, somewhat more pivotal later on, some nuts, and a couple of chairs. The setting, lighting and overall feel is very well done indeed and lends to a comfortable evening in three different settings: Marc’s, Serge’s and Yvan’s homes.
The use of set and light are not the only aspects of Guy Lewis’ production that I enjoyed. Matt Osman (Marc), Jonathan Rhodes (Serge) and Francis Parham (Yvan) are all decent actors who have moments that are spot on, the lines are delivered well and the use of space is at times excellent and at worst ok. Matt Osman’s Marc comes across from the start as being on the more critical side of life, a guy whose glass is half empty, Serge’s glass is probably deconstructed into several different aspects that lead to enlightenment and despair in equal measure, and Yvan has probably dropped his glass and is looking for it. Each actor conveys his part well and I am sure as the week progresses they will get into the skins of the characters.
Guy Lewis has opted to keep all the French aspects of the play intact from Paris locations to the use of Francs as currency. This is a usual move but in our credit crunch times perhaps an oversight, I feel had the characters been talking about £200,000 we would have been able to grasp the preposterous nature of the buying of the painting (which I shall come to later) whereas 200,000f (a mere £20,000) seems a little less frivolous in modern times. Debate amongst yourselves the value of £20,000 but when the actors themselves got confused between £’s and Francs perhaps an anglo switch would just have been more simple.
Now, the painting. For those who do not know Art, the play involves three friends, one of whom(Serge) has bought a piece of modern art for a large sum of money. The painting is a white canvas on which lie three greyish lines and one line of pure white. This production opted to have a completely bare piece of canvas. Whatever the reasoning for this was a let down. I think having the three grey lines and white line allows the audience the opportunity to make what it will of the “art”, by having a plain piece of canvas the audience is only allowed to see Antrios’s work through Marc’s eyes. Marc sees a plain piece of canvas, Serge a technicolor dream and Yvan, well Yvan probably sees what we might see - a plain canvas with three grey lines and a white line, appealing to some and not to others.
Art is a wonderful piece of theatre, the actors are all great at times, but I do hope as the run progresses they become more real than on opening night where they appeared slightly more as caricatures than real people.
If there are tickets left it is very worth seeing.
The Burton Taylor is decked with a table holding glasses and some water and, somewhat more pivotal later on, some nuts, and a couple of chairs. The setting, lighting and overall feel is very well done indeed and lends to a comfortable evening in three different settings: Marc’s, Serge’s and Yvan’s homes.
The use of set and light are not the only aspects of Guy Lewis’ production that I enjoyed. Matt Osman (Marc), Jonathan Rhodes (Serge) and Francis Parham (Yvan) are all decent actors who have moments that are spot on, the lines are delivered well and the use of space is at times excellent and at worst ok. Matt Osman’s Marc comes across from the start as being on the more critical side of life, a guy whose glass is half empty, Serge’s glass is probably deconstructed into several different aspects that lead to enlightenment and despair in equal measure, and Yvan has probably dropped his glass and is looking for it. Each actor conveys his part well and I am sure as the week progresses they will get into the skins of the characters.
Guy Lewis has opted to keep all the French aspects of the play intact from Paris locations to the use of Francs as currency. This is a usual move but in our credit crunch times perhaps an oversight, I feel had the characters been talking about £200,000 we would have been able to grasp the preposterous nature of the buying of the painting (which I shall come to later) whereas 200,000f (a mere £20,000) seems a little less frivolous in modern times. Debate amongst yourselves the value of £20,000 but when the actors themselves got confused between £’s and Francs perhaps an anglo switch would just have been more simple.
Now, the painting. For those who do not know Art, the play involves three friends, one of whom(Serge) has bought a piece of modern art for a large sum of money. The painting is a white canvas on which lie three greyish lines and one line of pure white. This production opted to have a completely bare piece of canvas. Whatever the reasoning for this was a let down. I think having the three grey lines and white line allows the audience the opportunity to make what it will of the “art”, by having a plain piece of canvas the audience is only allowed to see Antrios’s work through Marc’s eyes. Marc sees a plain piece of canvas, Serge a technicolor dream and Yvan, well Yvan probably sees what we might see - a plain canvas with three grey lines and a white line, appealing to some and not to others.
Art is a wonderful piece of theatre, the actors are all great at times, but I do hope as the run progresses they become more real than on opening night where they appeared slightly more as caricatures than real people.
If there are tickets left it is very worth seeing.