‘Art’ by Yasmina Reza. Translated by Christopher Hampton. Directed by Courtney O’Connor. Scenic Design by Shelley Barish. Costume Design by Chelsea Kerl, Lighting Design by Elmer Martinez. Sound Design by Adam Howarth. Presented by The Lyric Stage Company of Boston, 140 Clarendon Street, Boston, through March 16.
By Michele Markarian
Longstanding friendships are based on commonalities – like income bracket, hobbies, artistic sensibilities, mutual support, and admiration. With Art, playwright Yasmin Reza turns her observational lens on male friendship and the emotional chaos that happens when one man goes rogue and throws the rest of the group off-kilter.
Serge (Michael Kaye), a dermatologist, shows his friend Marc (John Kuntz), an aeronautical engineer, a painting he has bought for an astronomical two hundred thousand francs. It is white, with three barely perceptible lines rendered on it. Marc huffily declares, “It’s shit,” even though it has been done by an artist who is au courant. Completely offended by this expense on something he doesn’t even consider remotely artistic, Marc tells a third friend, Yvan (Remo Airaldi), about the painting and how awful it is. Worse than the painting itself is Serge, who, according to Marc, has lost his sense of humor. Yvan, who is getting married and has recently turned stationer, is a people pleaser who just wants them all to get along. He agrees to go and see the painting and tells Serge that he likes it, which prompts Serge to confide in him that Marc has lost his sense of humor. While the play seems to be about art and what it constitutes, it’s also about how the longer we know each other, the more we possessively keep each other in boxes and the lengths we will go to keep each other there.
“The Serge I know would never buy this painting,” Marc declares, not entirely fairly. Marc feels replaced by the painting, as Serge doesn’t “believe in the values that comprise contemporary art”. Serge had been Marc’s mentor, but Marc has developed opinions of his own. Serge, not to be outdone, offers a stunning critique of Paula, Marc’s wife, by imitating the passive-aggressive way she uses her hand to wave off cigarette smoke. Serge doesn’t believe the Marc he knows would ever decide to marry a “Paula”. When Yvan, who is the least successful and needs the friendship to balance out the influence of the overbearing women in his life, tries to intervene, Marc and Serge attack him for his “neutral spectator inertia” and urge him to break off his engagement. Ultimately, despite reaching stasis, Marc declares that the painting represents “a man who moves across the space and disappears.” Without the admiration of Marc, does Serge exist? Does Marc, in Serge’s lexicon? What will now bind them?
O’Connor has assembled a well-balanced cast. Kuntz plays Marc with a wounded coldness; the wheels are turning but he remains stealthy in his insistence that Serge has compromised himself. Kaye’s Serge is proud but rattled. Airaldi, as Yvan, is the heart of the piece; his love for the other two has nothing to do with ego and everything to do with need. While Marc and Serge treat him as if he is slightly inferior, he comes back at them with desperate affection. It’s an affecting performance, as he expresses what the other two males can’t.
Shelley Barish’s scenic design is stark and museum-like, which works well against the dialogue. While the argument is about a painting, the stakes are high, as it’s ultimately about friendship and the strength of what connects us. For more information and tickets, go to: https://www.lyricstage.com/
