A Word In Edgewise: Friendship, Friendship, Just A Perfect Friendship

Friendships range from the sublime of legend’s Damon and Pythias “I’d die for you,” to the less so, as Billy Dannreuther in Beat the Devil, stood boldly up to their  captor declaring, “Fat Gut’s my best friend, and I will not betray him cheaply.”

Most all of us have had memorable friendships, yet even so, haven’t there been times, a few … perhaps more than a few… when those same dear souls have been … irritating?… aggravating?… and all over the least little thing…

Yasmina Reza’s ‘ART‘ introduces a trio; pals for fifteen years. The single set is spare with the same few sticks of furniture; only the painting on a back wall indicates a change of venue. Objects are static, but emotions are volatile as the three enter a pas-de-trois around a canvas; a Rorschach test whose twenty square feet take on emotional dimensions more on the scale of Rembrandt’s Night Watch.

The rift begins with a small thing, as titanic things are wont to do. Note the single quotes around ‘ART‘; plenty of heat is about to be generated, but has little to do with actual brushes, oils, or felt-tip pens. Sans quotes, you’d be left with Subtexts. Serge has just bought a painting. It’s … White, or nearly so, bisected by a few whitish streaks. He’s about to ignite the tinder.

Serge has invited Marc over to see this painting he’s been coveting for months. He pops offstage, brings it in and sets it up. Marc is underwhelmed; “Expensive?” his first reaction, and their exchange caroms downhill, until Marc delivers his final judgment, “It’s shit. I’m sorry.”

Throughout, the characters speak directly to each other, or step aside and soliloquize to the audience. Marc and Serge each take a moment to air their feelings.

Marc next visits Yvan to confer about Serge’s action and his own his feelings. “Has he gone crazy?” exclaims Yvan after Marc reveals the purchase price. But then rounds with a conciliatory, “All the same…” … “If it makes him happy…he can afford it.” Marc is further incensed, accusing, “You don’t understand the seriousness of it.” Aside, he shares, “Yvan’s a very tolerant guy, which of course when it comes to relationships is the worst thing. “

Birds of prey, Marc and Serge peck and tear, words sharp, witty, and painful, as Yvan flutters about the scrimmage trying to effect peace. A brief melee, then all three become embroiled, personalities, faults and flaws revealed; Yvan’s fiancée and his spinelessness, “You’re marrying a gorgon,” “You’re an amoeba;” Marc’s “Condescension” and “Contempt,” and Serge’s pretensions as a “Collector” and “Great connoisseur.”

Reza’s dialog is brisk, hilarious and spot-on. Even as one is thinking, “Oh, really…why don’t they just–’’ one is encountering nagging flashbacks of personal scenes­– past, perhaps ongoing–lingering in the brain’s crenellations. Mercifully, Reza’s wounding words cleave swift and clean, sure in their accuracy that laughter dispels the bite of the blade.

It’s a one-act performance, better absorbed in one gulp, not ingested in bits and pieces of quotes and bon mots. All those are woven seamlessly into the fabric of the script, until underlying motives surface, having first been stirred to a high froth coalescing into a delectably digestible meringue.

‘ART‘ will delight, unnerve, and entertain at the Guthrie through January 28. Do go, and take a friend–or two!