[NEohioPAL] Review of "Art" at Blank Canvas

[Bob Abelman]

In Blank Canvas’ comedy, ‘Art,’ the devil is in the details



Bob Abelman

Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning Journal

  

Kiev-born painter Kazimir Malevich is known for his black squares, many of which are prominently displayed in the modern art wing of the Tate.  The National Gallery of Art has an extensive collection of Mark Rothko’s monochromatic rectangles in shades of red, gray and blue. And on stage in Blank Canvas’ production of “Art” hangs, appropriately enough, a blank white canvas.



“Art,” a 1998 Tony award-winning comedy by French playwright Yasmina Reza, is a one-act exposé of the bond between three men.  Serge, a wealthy dermatologist, has purchased a trendy, minimalist painting that he absolutely adores.  Marc, his best and oldest friend, is horrified that the man whose exquisite taste in art he himself cultivated has gone and bought a large, unframed all-white canvas by a fashionable artist for $200,000.  Yvan, a lovable milquetoast with no opinions of his own, is caught squarely in the middle.



What begins as an intellectual argument over art aesthetics cleverly, if a bit exhaustingly, unravels and becomes a psychoanalytic study about relationships.  “If you screw up your eyes, you make out some fine white diagonal lines,” Marc suggests in his opening monologue when describing the appalling painting.  He then applies the same squinting strategy to his friendships by looking closer to see what, if anything, lies beneath the surface to determine whether things have become too monochromatic to still be interesting. The result is delightful.



Just how delightful depends largely of how these characters are drawn by the actors playing them.  In the play’s premiere productions in London and New York, and is subsequent revivals, the take on the three protagonists has varied significantly in terms of age and temperament, which impacts on the delivery of the meaty dialogue and the acerbic comedy.



Here, the casting is terrific. 



For more of this article, go to www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/bob_abelman/
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