Art

On the surface Yasmina Reza’s play is straightforward, with three friends disagreeing about the quality and value of a painting and without much traditional ‘plot’. On the page it might appear somewhat unengaging but this production by the Amateur Players of Sherborne was gripping, incisive and revelatory. Superbly directly by Graham Smith and with a cast of three brilliant actors on top form it was very much of professional standard and crackled with tension, wit and humour from start to finish. In fact I found this production much more engaging and accessible than the London West End production I saw in the 1990s; it had a much greater focus and the actors skilfully, through their characterisations and interactions, brought out the themes and dynamics and I really ‘got it’, whereas I hadn’t in London. From their reactions during the performance and the comments I overheard in the interval and at the end, the audience clearly did too. What we got was the point that as humans our individuality is dependent on our relationships with others, and the reason we got it was because all of the actors not only gave superb individual performances but worked brilliantly as an ensemble, and because the director made everything on stage cohere, in tune with his vision (to mix, shamelessly and deliberately, my metaphors).

It was like a chamber piece of music, powerful and intense but balanced with sections of light relief. The small scale and intimate nature of the theatre in which it was performed were an asset here. It had a stripped back feel – just three men, friends with their friendships increasingly under strain, mostly appearing two at a time on stage. The set, designed by Mark Lambert and realised by him, John Crabtree and Adrian Hole, was a minimalist triumph. Consisting of a glass-topped, steel leg coffee table, three clear plastic chairs, grey carpet and grey walls, it coordinated very effectively with the actors’ grey, white and black/dark blue clothes and focussed the attention on them and the characters whose stories and relationships they presented. Their movements on stage were minimal too, and all the more effective for that. One of the few exceptions was Serge’s jumpiness as he waited for Ivan to arrive at the flat, with Marc getting on his nerves; expertly portrayed - it was all the more  powerful because of the restraint shown elsewhere. The simple piano music used between scenes (Eric Satie?) added to the effect. It was bold of the Director to be so restrained with the production as a whole and, brilliantly executed, it really paid off. By being so stripped-back and with the subtlety and intensity of the acting, it allowed the characters of the three friends, and their thoughts and feelings, to come across to the audience, in both their soliloquies and the dynamics of their friendships.

What that then allowed was the posing to the audience some fundamental questions about the nature of relationships, friendship and identity, intermingled with the issue of the nature and value of art. This is a challenging and delicate task, as it runs the risk of losing the audience, but the director and cast, through the subtlety of the performances, pulled it off. It was a great success, achieved through a clever blend of humour and emotion. It’s a serious play but because the characters take themselves and each other so seriously, particularly Serge and Marc, it’s also funny. The humour was brought out by the timing and subtlety of the actors, the skill with which they delivered the lines.  It worked because it had a creative, thoughtful, experienced, talented director and equally creative, thoughtful, experienced and talented actors, plus a really good lighting (design by Mark Lambert), sound and set team.

The quality of the acting was clear from the start with the wry introduction by Marc, played to perfection.. He brought out the character’s quiet but brutal way of attacking his friends, while showing that Marc still cared very much for them. The criticisms he made of his friends were sharp, and often funny, but they came from caring, and because the acting was so believable the audience were engaged in what he said. When Marc told Ivan that ‘you’re marrying a gorgon’, the audience laughed but were also clearly moved.

If Marc was an aggressive terrier in his harassing of his two friends, Serge was an excitable, and sometimes hurt puppy, although that is to over-simplify both characterisations. The actors made them three dimensional, very believable complex characters with complex relationships and a lot going on under the surface, and they gradually revealing their vulnerabilities. When, for example, Marc angers Serge by accusing him of not really liking his expensive new painting, Serge retaliates by revealing what he really thinks of Marc’s wife. The actor performed this brilliantly, delivering lines such as ‘the way she waves away cigarette smoke condemns her out of hand’ with lovely nuance and restrained but evident viciousness and bitterness, and showing a different side to the character.

The contrast, opposition and tension between Marc and Serge shone a spotlight for the audience on the ‘piggy in the middle’, Ivan is a complex character. At times he is laid-back and friendly, but then he obsesses over a lost pen-top. He is slightly hang-dog compared with Serge’s eager and hurt puppy and Marc’s attack dog; the great reconciler, smoothing things over. This is not an easy role to make work on stage and to make appealing to the audience but Andrew Middleton managed it expertly and really drew the audience in, making them laugh, gaining their sympathy, and they warmed to him. This was especially the case with his big monologue in the middle of the play about the invitations for his wedding and with his moving speech near the end when he became angry and cried. Earlier on there was a build-up of anticipation to hear Ivan’s reaction to Serge’s buying of the extremely minimalist and very expensive painting and his delivery of the line ‘very reasonable’ was done with spot-on timing and intonation and received a loud and well-deserved laughter from the audience. There was, indeed, a great deal of laughter throughout but the audience also felt sorry for Ivan and times there were audible ‘aahh’s, as when he said to the other two ‘I hope you’re not going to argue all evening, you’ll finish me’. This was a tribute not only to his acting but also to that of the others. Their believability as bickering friends set up the dynamic to which Ivan responded.

The ending of this riveting play did not disappoint, being both very moving as well as funny. The way for it had been prepared for by a long, tour-de-force scene with the three characters in full revelatory flow, which held the audience enthralled throughout. To achieve this was a considerable feat, in a production packed with achievement. Congratulations to everyone involved and thank you for an outstanding evening. I and the rest of the audience were bowled over. Bravo!

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.