By Alidė Kohlhaas

For centuries art has been a controversial subject, maybe even as long as human beings have created visual images. The controversy of what is and is not art, what is good and what is not began in real earnest to heat up with the arrival of Impressionism in France. After it new forms developed, such as expressionism, cubism, surrealism, Dadaism, abstractions, minimalism, etc. etc.

The response to art is a very personal matter, and it can lead to rifts in personal relations. While there are specific standards and criteria by which we can judge a work, in the end it always comes down to this: "I know what I like."

French playwright Yasmina Reza turned a personal experience into a three-man play that explores such a rift between three long-time friends. The play, aptly titled ART, has garnered her the Moliere Award for best play, best production and best author in 1994. It ran for 18 months at the Comedie des Champs-Elysees in Paris. Its English translation by Christopher Hampton (think of such movies as The Honorary Consul, the Good Father, The Secret Agent, Mary Reilly, Dangerous Liaisons — for which he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screen Play  [ from his own play] — and Carrington) won The Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy  of the Year 1996  in London, and the Tony Award in 1998 in New York.

ART , a play of subversive wit, has now come to Theatre Aquarius in a well-shaped production by director Michael Shamata. He has given his three actors a well-defined space on a sparse but evocative set by John Ferguson. Set in Paris—the well-placed  radiators leave no doubt about its continental location—the play explores how two friends react to the purchase of a textured, all-white painting by a third for an outrageously large amount of money.

It is a play of exploration of about 90 minutes duration that examines the nature of male friendship when confronted by crisis. Here the crisis is the purchase by Serge (Patrick Galligan) of the offending painting. This purchase upsets Marc (John Jarvis) deeply. His reaction to the white square of canvas is not unlike Reza's own when one of her friends purchased such a work. As an artist, she knew how to transform that experience (it turned out well in the end for her) into an all-male tragicomic, bitter, yet also sweet  encounter.

Marc has for years been the subliminal mentor of Serge. Now he finds himself pushed aside as Serge breaks away from this mentorship with a painting that Marc hates. Standing between the men is Yvan (Oliver Dennis). The play’s most well-defined character, he attempts to reassure both his friends from different angles, thus ending up being battered by both.

Many things are said between the three men that cut deep into individual psyches. While we learn only the very peripheral about Marc and Serge, we are left with no doubt about why Yvan plays the meditative role between his two friends, who are really battling for dominant position within the triangle. Who wins and who loses is a matter left to the viewer to decide. Suffice it to say that the journey of discovery between the friends is one we can both enjoy and also learn from.

Galligan is quoted as having said that those who claim the play is female in nature are guilty of a form of sexist thinking. "Would it make them (characters) more masculine if the play was about football?" Pointing out that the play is set in Europe, he is quoted as saying, ". . . European males are less frightened by the notion of culture." Galligan obviously does not know too many European males, for the acceptance of culture by the average European males is no different than that by those in North America. He is right, however, in putting a disclaimer to the female nature of the play. It is simply universal, neither male nor female, neither European nor North American in nature. The reaction to art is very personal and that is a the point the play makes very clear.

Art plays at the du Maurier Ltd. Centre, 190 King Street, Hamilton until February 2, 2002.

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