Origin
Sign In My Cart
Search
alphabetical author index
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Art

How much would you pay for a white painting? Would it matter who the painter was? Would it be art?

* * PERFORMANCE RIGHTS CURRENTLY WITHDRAWN * *

More information

Description

  • Full Length Play
  • Drama
  • 90 minutes

  • Time Period: Contemporary
  • Set Requirements: Interior Set

  • Accolades:
  • Winner! Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy of the Year
    Winner! 1998 Tony Award for Best Play
    Winner! 1996 Olivier Award for Best Comedy
How much would you pay for a white painting? Would it matter who the painter was? Would it be art?

One of Marc's best friends, Serge, has just bought a very expensive painting. It's about five feet by four, all white with white diagonal lines. To Marc, the painting is a joke, but Serge insists Marc doesn't have the proper standard to judge the work. 

Another friend, Ivan, though burdened by his own problems, allows himself to be pulled into this disagreement. Eager to please, Ivan tells Serge he likes the painting.

Lines are drawn and these old friends square off over the canvas, using it as an excuse to relentlessly batter one another over various failures. As their arguments become less theoretical and more personal, they border on destroying their friendships.

At the breaking point, Serge hands Marc a felt tip pen and dares him: "Go on." This is where the friendship is finally tested, and the aftermath of action, and its reaction, affirms the power of those bonds.
REVIEWS:

"...wildly funny, naughtily provocative..."

New York Post

"...a nonstop cross-fire of crackling language, serious issues of life and art expressed in outbursts that sound like Don Rickles with a degree from the Sorbonne... Reza is a fiendishly clever writer... Art sounds like a marriage of Molière and Woody Allen..."

Newsweek

"Anyone looking for a play that is funny, sophisticated, stylish, stimulating and moving should go to Art."

 Independent (London)

"That such a simple plot can throw up such profound and meaty ideas about the rules that dictate art and friendship is a real treat. Reza and Hampton have an acute ear for the idiocies, trivia and petty assaults that pepper the conversation between friends... The real pleasures come from Reza's creation of three beautifully defined, original characters..."

 The Mail (London)

"In October I called it a minor classic. Let's change that to a classic comedy, period."

 London Times

Premiere Production: Art, winner of the Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy of the Year received its British premiere at Wyndham's Theatre, London in 1994, starring Albert Finney, Tom Courtenay and Ken Stott.

Characters

  • Casting: 3M

Available Material

Name Price
Art Script This is optional. Order Now

Serge has bought a modern painting for a huge sum of money. Marc hates it and cannot believe that a friend of his could possibly want such a work. Yvan attempts, unsuccessfully, to placate both sides. If your frien'ship is based on tacit mutual agreement what happens when one person does something completely different and unexpected? Art, winner of the Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy of the Year received its British premiere at Wyndham's Theatre, London in 1994 sarring Albert Finney, Tom Courtenay and Ken'stott.

$29.95

Related Works