Review: ART, Lighthouse Poole - Tour
What is art and how do you judge it? This subjective question is at the heart of Yasmina Reza’s clever and amusing play so brilliantly translated from French by Christopher Hampton into a hit play in 1998, which has attracted a host of top stage stars in its productions since. In many ways, the answer to that question becomes instantly clear; it is the way in which the art provokes a response in the viewer that matters . When Serge spends £200,000 on a white canvas with white lines on it, the reaction of his two friends Yvan and Marc explodes into tense, physical and word play battle that threatens their own relationship and exposes feelings about their relationships with their partners. This Joshua Beaumont and Original Theatre revival, directed by Iqbal Khan, starts its regional tour at the Lighthouse in Poole and with a fine cast, gorgeous set and delightfully judged pace is another wonderful addition to this Autumn’s regional theatre programmes.
Serge, played by Chris Harper with a quiet intensity and seriousness, has splashed this huge sum on the large canvas and we, in the audience, react in the same way as his friend Marc, played with a bohemian air by Aden Gillett, who immediately declares it as “a piece of sh*t”. When his other friend Yvan, a lovely comic performance by Seann Walsh who has recently taken to serious drama after a successful stand-up career, is asked to take sides, their fifteen-year relationship comes under threat. Yvan is preparing for marriage and feeling the pressure of his stepmother’s rivalry and jealousy while depending on six years of therapy. Serge is divorced from his partner and Marc’s partner Paula smokes in a way that offends Serge. As the arguments and tensions mount, their personal relationships get thrown into the debate. There are plenty of delightful set piece comic moments and observations like when Marc observes, “the older I get the more offensive I hope to become” or Yvan’s hilarious exposition of the call with his mother on the wording of the wedding invite.
The play is cleverly and artistically set by Ciaran Bagnall and when we take our seats, a Cubist style angular sculpture sits centre stage which, with slight adjustments, becomes the rooms of Serge and Marc flats and with sharp lighting, creates pools of lights in which each reveal their inner thoughts about the painting and their friends. It is a very effective setting allowing fluid transitions and an arty frame to the action. Khan uses it well with his blocking with the cast, sometimes sitting on the edge of the dais and sometimes stood on the settee, and takes time with some of the exchanges to let the moment sink so we can see as well as hear the shifts in the power plays.
This is a very fine revival, another triumph for Joshua Beaumont and the wonderful Original Theatre whose work is consistently of a very high standard and often captured for release on their own streaming platform. It is also a wonderful addition to the regional touring this autumn joining the brilliant The History Boys and Stones in their Pockets in those playhouses across the UK and showing how these smaller regional producers can create to draw audiences back into regional theatre and entertain and provoke reflective thought through high quality drama.
**** Four stars
Reviewed by: Nick Wayne
ART plays at Lighthouse Poole tours until the end of October, with further info here.