“ART”

Posted by Gail M. Burns - July 2010

“If I’m who I am because I’m who I am and you’re who you are because you’re who you are, then I’m who I am and you’re who you are If, on the other hand, I’m who I am because you’re who you are and if you’re who you are because I’m who I am, then I’m not who I am and you’re not who you are.”

– Yasmina Reza, ART, translated by Christopher Hampton

You know the old saying “I don’t know much about art but I know what I like when I see it”? Well, I know too much about ART and that has prevented me from enjoying it the last two times I have reviewed it (in 2002 at the Ghent Playhouse and in 2004 at the Theater Barn.

The moral of both my story and this play’s is: Don’t take your art too seriously. So to prevent you from falling into the trap that has kept me from enjoying this play for far too long, I will keep this brief. I liked what I saw at Barrington Stage, and you will too.

Here’s all you need to know about ART: Three middle-aged men – Serge (Garrison), a divorced dermatologist; Marc (Countryman), an aeronautical engineer in a relationship with a woman named Paula; and Yvan (Avers), who is engaged to be married and has recently switched careers from textiles to stationery – are close friends until Serge spends a pile money on a white-on-white painting. During the course of the monologues, dialogues and “triologues” that make up this 90-minute play, these men grapple with the difficulties that arise in their relationship as a result of this purchase.

It is very important that you understand that these three men are French and that the action takes place in Paris in 1994. The playwright, Yasmina Reza, was born in France and writes in French – Barrington Stage is presenting Christopher Hampton’s 1995 English translation. If you aren’t aware that this is a play in translation about people living in a different culture you will be confused because American men would handle this situation completely differently, or rather they wouldn’t handle it at all. The entire situation is very, very French.

Now you are ready to go to the BSC Main Stage, sit back, and enjoy this fabulous production. In a recent interview with Jeffrey Borak in The Berkshire Eagle, Wishcamper joked about his stellar cast, saying, “…all I really have to do is wind these guys up, sit back and enjoy.” While I am sure he did considerably more than that, the end result has that kind of effortlessness that comes when true professionals collaborate. All YOU have to do is sit back and enjoy!

There is a clear family pecking order in these men’s friendship. Garrison’s Serge is the most financially successful and acts as the “older brother” – his ability to by the painting proves that. Countryman’s Marc is the insecure middle-brother who is threatened by and jealous of Serge’s dominance. And Avers’ Yvan is the coddled baby brother whose job has always been to keep the peace between his two elder siblings. Jenny Mannis’ costumes silently and subtly underline this with Serge always the most formally dressed, Marc in rebellious black leather, and Yvan the most casual.

Vest’s sleek and spare set remains the same throughout the show, the only way you can tell whose apartment you are in is by the painting hanging on the back wall – in other words these are men who define themselves and are defined by their taste in art.

In Wishcamper’s hands this play reveals itself to be very funny as well as a deft psychological portrait of these men. He allows Avers hilarious delivery of Ivan’s increasingly frantic monologue on the stress of the arrangements for his impending marriage to be the balance point from which the men’s relationship tips quickly towards the climax. The is a brief fist fight, choreographed by Michael Burnet, which for American guys would be the denouement, but here merely presages Ivan’s outburst. No it takes a much more shocking and funny intellectual attack to resolve these men’s differences and clear the air.

Reza gives Marc the first and last lines, both about the painting. The opening line describes it. The closing line describes him and the insecurity which underlies the entire conflict: “[The painting] represents a man who moves across a space then disappears.” Marc sees, in the apparent emptiness off Serge’s canvas, the world without him. He sees his own mortality.

Performances of Yasmina Reza’s ART are from July 22 through August 7 are Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 p.m., Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m., Friday matinees at 2 p.m., and Sunday at 5 p.m. at Barrington Stage Company’s Mainstage, 30 Union St., Pittsfield, MA. Additional matinee performance on Wed., July 28 at 2 p.m. The show runs 90 minutes with no intermission and is a play of ideas best enjoyed by teens and adults.

Tickets: $15-$56. Seniors: $35 all matinees. Pay What You Can Night for 35 year olds and younger: Fri., July 30 at 8:00pm. Barrington Stage is fully-accessible, including wheelchair accessibility and assisted listening devices at every performance. Accessible seating is available by reservation. For ticket information, call 413-236-8888 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              413-236-8888      end_of_the_skype_highlighting, stop by the BSC Box Office at 30 Union Street, or visit www.barringtonstageco.org.

Barrington Stage has partnered with the Storefront Artist Project (SAP), to present exhibitions of white-on-white artworks at the SAP, 124 Fenn Street, in the lobby of the BSC Main Stage, 30 Union Street, and in various storefronts and businesses throughout downtown Pittsfield from July 13-27. For more information on White on White, contact Julia Dixon at the Storefront Artist Project 413-442-7201 or mail@storefrontartist.org.

On July 27 at 4 p.m. MASS MoCA Director Joseph C. Thompson comes to The Ferrin Gallery, 437 North Street in Pittsfield, for a conversation on modern art entitled “Invisible: When Art is Pure Idea, and Other Ass-Kickers” Light refreshments will be provided. This event is free, but reservations are highly recommended. Call the Box Office 413-236-8888

And on Wednesday, August 4 at 2 p.m. the cast of ART will do a reading at MASS MoCA in the Sol LeWitt gallery.

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