The importance of being earnest about art (and friendship)

The three male leads in Yasmina Reza’s play Art, under the direction of Victor Lirio for REP, are first seen capering about onstage, chasing each other in a sitting room, clearly evoking jovial times back in college together. But soon, their movements slow down; they grow more serious; they put on suit jackets and we realize that these friends—Serge (Martin Sarreal), Yvan (Bryan Sy) and Marc (Freddy Sawyer)—are still in touch, but their bonds are no longer carefree. There’s an edge of rivalry and critical distance that has surfaced.

Particularly from Marc, who is deeply “offended” to learn that his dermatologist friend Serge has spent 200,000 French francs on a monochromatic white painting. And his friend actually seems to (gasp!) like the thing!

Lirio, coming from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in London, once again finds British and Filipino-British actors to square off with rapid-fire dialogue (as he did with last year’s take on Harold Pinter’s Betrayal), in this case with Filipino actor Sy as a mediator of sorts.

Art is a play that has often resurfaced since its ’80s origins because of the mixture of savage wit, pathos and truth-drilling—and every casting of it manages to find new ways to mine its themes: the nature of art, friendship, critical faculty, the desire to control others, and the uneven bonds that hold people together even as it pushes them apart. So Lirio has introduced some back story to the three-way tale of Serge, Marc and Yvan, trapped in a cycle of approval and calling out bulls*it, preferably over martinis and cigarettes in a Paris flat that is well-hung with art.

The white elephant in the room is, of course, the white painting by a certain Antrios (an actual, obscure Ukrainian artist), and at first we feel we may be tormented by never getting to see the painting itself. Serge alludes to its subtle white diagonal lines crossing a white canvas, but the 4x5 foot painting is withheld from our sight, its back facing us for about 20 minutes. A tease, of course; or a way to get us to consider what it is we expect to see when art is the subject. Eventually Serge defiantly displays it on his apartment wall, and we soak it in, allowing it to change the vibe of the play.

The two Brits onstage—British-Filipino Sarreal (from Here Lies Love in London, as well as Bridgerton Season 3) and British Sawyer (Apple TV’s Trying) run circles with the script, delivering staccato ammo dumps directly to the audience, as well as one another. Serge has long seen Marc as his mentor—a contrarian who helped him develop his own sense of identity, and artistic taste—but Marc now sees this as threatening. Marc seemingly thrives on conflict and brutal honesty. He describes Yvan to the audience as “a very tolerant guy… which is the worst thing a friend can be.” And Yvan? Sy (a Gawad Buhay Awardee and Aliw Award nominee for his role in Coriolano) is, as the ticker-tape above mentions, stuck “between a rock and a hard place.” He’s the sensitive, neurotic friend; the people-pleaser who suffers inside as his two friends rip one another to shreds—and him in the process.

Sy’s Yvan is kawawa. As he neurotically prepares to face down the barrel of an impending marriage, he starts to realize his place in the totem pole of their three-way friendship. And it’s priceless to watch. (Sy has a comic gift, the ability to appear that he’s completely freaking out at any given minute. Gene Wilder in The Producers would be proud.)

There is a genius in three-hander plays, when done this neatly. Lirio does indulge an instinct towards farce—the three-way tussle on the floor ends up in a Three Stooges noogie entanglement—but it helps leaven the painful deconstruction (a dreaded word for Marc) of these friends’ bonds. If Yvan is the heart of the play, deeply hurt by all the drama, and Marc is the head, unwilling to set aside his critical scalpel even to spare his friends’ feelings, then what is Serge? The one who bought the painting, and the one who must accept all that comes from growing up and growing apart.

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Catch Yasmina Reza’s Art at REP Eastwood Theater until June 29.