Art,

Before you take up residence in one of the surprisingly comfortable chairs, you should take a little stroll around the room. For this production of Art, Source Theatre has gathered works of... well, art from various artists in the area to put on display. The works are for sale, of course, and there are a nice variety of styles. Also notice the sheet-covered chairs in the middle of the room, vaguely reminiscent of the padded-cell days of my childhood. Ah, the memories. 

Art is a play about friendship. Well, it’s more about the changes that friendships have to go through as we change. If our relationships don’t adapt to the people we become, then one day we’ll realize that the relationship has become obsolete. The people we used to be so close to have become strangers overnight. You know, like that person you were dating in high school and then you went off to college and then you came back... Only to find that he was completely different from before and he kept going on and on about how you dyed your hair, and he just couldn’t understand that the purple was only temporary and why should I have to get permission from you to change my hair because you went off and got that stupid tattoo that says “I Love Butch” even though, mister, you never even had a dog named Butch so that just makes me wonder what exactly you’ve been up to all this time and… um…

Sorry.

And speaking of people who need therapy, there's the character of Yvan, played by JEREMY LISTER.

Lister has the standout performance of the evening

Yasmina Reza, the author, fleshes out this character much more than the others, providing him with lines that show the character’s complexity. Lister takes that a few steps further with his physicality and facial expressions. The lines that were obviously written to be funny are underplayed, making them even funnier. The lines that were meant to be serious were said with such intensity that they were either heartbreaking or hysterical, depending on the context. Lister’s Yvan is sweet and slightly pathetic and definitely the most likeable character on stage. 

Marc, played by JONATHAN WARD and Serge, RUSS STAGGS are both kind of, well, jerks. Marc wants to control everyone and make them fit into his concept of a perfect world. Serge wants his friends to agree with him, which is fine, but then when they don’t he gets all crabby. Admittedly, Reza didn’t give these two characters much more to work with, but I wish the actors could have added some insecurity or vulnerability to their parts, simply to make them less two-dimensional. As it was, I couldn’t really tell that these men had once been close friends. It wasn't believable that they had ever been more than acquaintances. There wasn’t any history, where I would've liked to see more escalation into the big fight.

Even so, both actors seemed very comfortable and confident in their parts. They were natural and real, and annoyed me in a way that real people would, which I’d say is a good thing. In general, their monologues were better than their scenes, while the reverse was true for Lister. Stagg and Ward's best interaction moments were when the characters were doing their best to be inoffensive. Their biting acidity made the tension palpable and loaded on the stress. Those moments were very well done.

Both the costume and set concepts (costumes by ASTIN JONES, set by NICOLAS THORNBURG) had great intentions, but there was one thing in each of them that just bugged the heck out of me. First the costumes – Marc 'the Controller' wore black, Serge 'the Pompous' wore white (like the painting itself), and Yvan 'the Switzerland' wore gray. All of which was great. But Serge also wore dark brown shoes. It drove me bonkers. Putting him in white shoes might have been an overkill, sure, but at least give him some light brown or beige footwear. Something that won’t stand out quite as much.

As for the set, it was also done in shades of white, except for one bright red chair.

Why was it bright red? I HAVE NO IDEA.

The lighting by WILLIE MCGHEE was very nice for the most part. There were a couple of spots where the actors walked out of their light, but that was only around the edges, so I can’t be sure if that was the actor’s fault or the designer's. The not-at-all-subtle change when the characters went into monologue mode was fine, although I would have preferred a color other than purpley-pink, but that’s purely a personal preference. (Yay, alliteration.) The special light on the painting at the end was especially nice, so kudos to you, Willie.

MELISSA BLUE's blocking during the scenes and the transitions between them were very well done and quite natural. What wasn’t as natural was the language usage. These characters are all educated to within an inch of their social lives, and reflect that in their regular use of twenty-dollar words. The actors definitely knew what they were saying, but they just couldn’t make it flow quite right. If you’ve ever heard doctors or lawyers talk to each other about work, their pompous conversation seems less pompous because you can tell that they always talk that way. The Art boys didn’t quite pull that off, but they didn’t stumble, and they knew what was going on, so I’m prepared to forgive them. Ain’t I nice?

Now for the sum up. I really liked the show. It’s makes you think, without making you too tired to do so. The actors, while they all have minor areas that could use improvement, are each quite good and made me believe in them, even if I didn’t necessarily like them all that much. I’m distressed that opening night only had about twenty-five people in the audience. This show deserves much better. So get off your butts and go. And don’t worry; you don’t have to be an art enthusiast to get it. This show is only named “Art”. After all, Godot didn’t even show up for his play, so this show already has that one beat.

(Note:  By the way, 40^th Street Stage has been in its present incarnation for about as long as OHR has – just since this past spring. They’re filling a gap in the Hampton Roads community by providing a space without a permanent company. Meaning that a group who has a show to produce can simply rent the place out, instead to having to perform in someone’s basement. Pretty cool, yo.)