ART - 5 out of 5 stars
Rodney Rigby, Marriner Group, Paul Wheelton AM, State Theatre Company SA
TICKETS: https://arttheplay.com.au/tickets/adelaide/
Presented by Rodney Rigby, Marriner Group, Paul Wheelton AM, and State Theatre Company South Australia, ART is a contemporary comedy‑drama by French playwright Yasmina Reza. The English‑language version performed here, translated by Christopher Hampton, preserves the play’s perceptive wit while sharpening its cultural specificity for English‑speaking audiences.
ART is deceptively simple. Three long‑time
friends: Serge, Marc and Yvan see their decades‑old relationship thrown into
disarray when Serge purchases an expensive, entirely white abstract painting.
What begins as mockery from Marc quickly escalates into a deeply personal
dispute, exposing fault lines in their friendship that extend far beyond questions
of artistic taste. The painting becomes less an object than an irritation: a
mirror reflecting ego, status anxiety and the unspoken rules that govern male
friendship.
Reza’s script is meticulously constructed, using the
triviality of the premise to disarm the audience before gradually revealing its
emotional stakes. The humour is dry, cutting and often uncomfortably
recognisable, driven by razor‑sharp dialogue and the constant shifting of
alliances between the three men. Moments of farce give way to surprising
vulnerability, as each character confronts not only the others’ judgments but
their own insecurities.
Opening at Her Majesty’s Theatre this afternoon, this
production arrives with considerable star power in Richard Roxburgh, Damon
Herriman, and Toby Schmitz, bringing a formidable presence to the stage, each
navigating the play’s tonal shifts with precision. Their performances hinge as
much on silence as on speech—long, awkward pauses, glances and physical
distance are as telling as the dialogue itself.
The staging reflects the play’s thematic economy. Set
primarily within Serge’s apartment, the design is deliberately minimal,
allowing the show‑home‑like space to dominate the visual field while the
actors’ movement plots the evolving dynamics of the trio. As tensions rise, the
use of space expands and fractures, with proximity and separation underscoring
the shifting balance of power between them.
ART balances intellectual debate with emotional
immediacy. Beneath its polished wit lies a probing examination of
authenticity—of taste, of identity and of friendship itself. The play asks not
just what we see in art, but what we are willing to see in each other. Running
at a tight 90 minutes without interval, it wastes no time in drawing the
audience into its escalating conflict; laughter comes quickly, but so does a
growing discomfort as the stakes shift from amusing to unavoidably personal.
Roxburgh’s Marc is the overtly judgemental member of the
trio, priding himself on being the mediator of sense and authenticity, which
makes Serge’s outlandish purchase feel like a personal betrayal—and he plays
this superbly. At his core, Marc needs to feel that his friends defer to his
judgement in matters of culture and values, and Roxburgh mines that need with
exquisite precision, letting flashes of vulnerability flicker beneath Marc’s
certainty so he never slips into caricature. He oscillates between genuine
concern and corrosive condescension toward Herriman’s Serge, calibrating every
pause and look so that even his silences feel loaded. His dynamic is that of an
older “leader” threatened by a former protégé’s independence, and he makes this
tension almost physically palpable, using stillness and tightly controlled
bursts of rage in equal measure. With Yvan, he is both bully and confidant,
expecting affirmation from his rants yet lashing out when Yvan refuses to take
a firm side.
At the centre of the story, Serge, portrayed by Damon
Herriman, is a man in transition, investing in contemporary art, status and a refined
identity. Herriman brings an easy, lightly ironic charm to Serge that makes his
attraction to the Antrios painting entirely believable; he is genuinely drawn
to the work, but equally to what it says about him—sophisticated and independent.
The tug‑of‑war between Marc and Serge over influence plays out in every
interaction, with the painting becoming proof that Marc no longer dictates the
terms of their friendship or Serge’s life. Herriman charts that journey from
tentative pride to steely resolve with remarkable clarity. In his scenes with
Roxburgh, he holds his ground with relaxed confidence, letting the power
balance seesaw subtly rather than flipping in a single moment. He is
alternately indulgent and dismissive in his relationships with Marc and Yvan,
shading Serge’s reactions with tiny shifts of tone and physicality that give
the audience a textured sense of their shared history.
As a chronic appeaser, Toby Schmitz’s Yvan is stuck in a
spiral of personal chaos. After arriving twelve minutes late to meet Serge and
Marc, Schmitz launches into one of the best monologues not only within the play
but likely in any production I’ve witnessed this year, earning an impromptu
round of applause. He convincingly portrays a conflict‑averse, self‑deprecating
man desperate to keep everyone happy, making Yvan both the emotional centre and
the easiest target of the group, and he does so with extraordinary control over
rhythm and pace. In quieter moments, his watchful, anxious presence provides a
fragile, beating heart between Marc’s rigidity and Serge’s self‑reinvention.
While Yvan is the “third man”, together they complete the system; even their
cruellest attacks reveal how dependent they are on one another, and Schmitz’s
performance makes that dependency unmistakable, ensuring that when the trio
finally fracture and re‑cohere, it feels earned, complex and profoundly human.
Together, Roxburgh, Herriman and Schmitz form an impeccably
tuned ensemble, their chemistry so instinctive that every shift in allegiance
feels both surprising and inevitable. They listen to each other with
microscopic precision, allowing uncomfortable beats of silence, overlapping
lines and tiny physical adjustments to do as much storytelling as Reza’s
dialogue. Each performance is individually complete, yet the thrill lies in how
they ignite one another, colliding to create a friendship that feels utterly
lived‑in. Their arguments never seem like theatrical constructs but the latest
eruption in a decades‑long conversation, making the production’s emotional
payoffs land with exceptional force.
ART is only in Adelaide until the 24th May, and with the
Opening sessions already underway, ensure you get your tickets to this
masterpiece before it leaves
- Andrew Broadbent
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