“Art” (the play), friends and agida at Barrington Stage Company

Michael Countryman (l) and David Garrison fight over Art at Barrington Stage Company. Kevin Sprague Photos.

Art often challenges things, including friendships in this Yasmina Reza play of the same name. It’s about an all-white painting with three barely discernible diagonal white lines and three friends who are a little off kilter, too. The play is a triangle of interests: the painting, the friendships and the need to always be right.

Michael Countryman

The play is called a comedy, and the audience laughed loudly at the many situations and jokes, but I was never happier than when it ended and I was able to escape the horrible people portrayed on stage. Such agita over nothing. All the laughter was at the expense of one or another of the trio, and Reza, who wrote the play, clearly has an opinion of the human race she shares with Edward Albee. Art and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf would make a matching double bill. Both are full of verbal rusty daggers which are used to slash at each others egos mercilessly.

Directed by Henry Wishcamper, the whole play flies by in some hour and twenty minutes, almost ten minutes faster than other productions which run ninety minutes. The breakneck pacing keeps the work humming, even though the action consists mostly of hauling the painting out and putting it back. But there is a hilariously acted scene in which the three men chew on olives, rendered in absolute silence. It’s such a wonderful scene you will  remember it the next time you play with an olive pit in your mouth. Finally, what would a play about men engaging in macho one-upmanship be without a fist fight, very nicely choreographed by Michael Burnet.

David Garrison

Despite the fact that it made me squirm in my seat, it got to me, and that makes it great theatre. No wonder Art has been translated into thirty languages, and is performed with great frequency around the world. If women are the majority ticket buyers, here is a play where scores get settled. Instead of seeing men’s ideas of women up on stage, Reza shows men for the insufferable ego jobs they often are, slashing at each other, and hiding behind the excuse of rational discourse to justify their unfeeling behavior. Some say that this play gives you insights into the complicated mind of artists, but while the self-absorbed aspects ring pretty true, the complete lack of humanity and sensitivity applies only to a rare few I have known.

The characters of Marc, Serge and Yvan range from pigheaded and pretentious to the hopelessly muddled. If you have ever wished for the hot air to be let out of the overblown balloons of the visual arts elite, this is the pinprick of a play that quickly does the job.

So, the white painting is the newest acquisition of Serge (David Garrison) who first shows it to his long time friend Marc (Michael Countryman) and asks for an opinion.  Marc thinks it is a waste of 200,000 francs and a sham and tells him so in no uncertain terms. They trade verbal punches. Sometime later Yvan hears about it from Marc.  Being a people-pleaser,  Yvan  then tells Serge that, yes,  he likes it, only to recant later. Their characterizations are brilliant. As Serge, Garrison uses the painting to inflate his ego, becoming the imperious owner and lords it over Michael Countryman’s Marc, who – used to being the esthetic leader of the group – bristles at the rejection of his opinions.

Brian Avers

Brian Avers’ Yvan meanwhile has his own set of problems – a wedding in which the mothers-in-law are fighting for naming rights on the invitation which has escalated into a different kind of war, with him in the middle, just as he is caught between his two warring friends with no way to reconcile their stubborn differences.

The production itself includes a handsome set that depicts a sort of uncluttered neutral room and serves as the background for all three character’s homes. Each is distinguished by the simple device of a different painting on each of their walls. The lighting designer provides suitable atmospherics, with frequent cuts to individual actors as they address the audience. In judging costumes in contemporary plays, the idea is not to bring unnecessary attention to them.  Everything worked fine except for he loud shirt that Yvan wore.  While the right idea, it was too distracting and should have been toned down.

The sound deign during the play, acting as exclamation points, worked exceedingly well. The screechy classical music before the performance began was too loud, too distorted and had too much treble and not enough bass. Primarily chamber music for strings, it should have been background music, not in the foreground where it set the wrong mood.

So how does this play stack up against the other productions this year?

Dueling ideas turn physical.

In a summer with so many remarkable plays to choose from, Art can claim a top spot. The acting, the direction and the entertainment are all there. What it comes down to is the subject matter. If you enjoy talking about art, and examining the real nature of most friendships, you will adore this play. But in the end, even with all the laughs, this is no comedy, it is a tragedy.

Barrington Stage Company presents Art by Yasmina Reza, Translation by Christopher Hampton, Directed by Henry Wishcamper, Scenic Design – Robin Vest, Costume Design – Jenny Mannis, Lighting Design – Matthew Richards, Original Music and Sound Design – Bart Fasbender. Cast: Yvan – Brian Avers, Marc – Michael Countryman, Serge – David Garrison. On the Main Stage, Union Street, Pittsdfield, MA. About two hours twenty minutes. July 22 – August 7, 2010. barringtonstageco.org