I summarize Yasmina Reza’s play ‘Art’ to my companion as a play about three dudes bitching about stuff, and a painting. I’m not even sure there’s a plot. At least, I don’t remember a plot.
It’s more of a premise. And the premise is that three grown men are having an existential meltdown over a white painting. Serge blows a fortune on what looks like a blank canvas, Marc can’t believe his friend spent money on the thing, and poor Yvan is stuck trying to keep the peace while both sides take turns losing it. What starts as an argument about modern art turns into a hilarious, petty, and painfully honest showdown about ego, friendship, and who’s the real intellectual in the room. In spite of this, it’s great fun.
Everyman Theatre puts on a lot of highbrow theatrical performances. Honestly, I was stunned (delighted, but also stunned) to see them doing Harvey in 2023, a distinctly lowbrow play about a man who befriends a six-foot-tall invisible rabbit. But even Harvey was highbrowed-up significantly at Everyman. Reza’s ‘Art’ script is already pretty highbrow, which is, I suppose, one of the things people like about it, at least, the sort of people who use the word ‘sportsball’ unironically in a sentence. Snazzing it up further with a posh set stretches the limits of relatability, which is forgivable as the set is a visual delight.
Kyle Prue, Bruce Randolph Nelson, and Tony K. Nam as Marc, Serge, and Yvan (respectively, in order of appearance) are all splendid performers who, as characters, take themselves dreadfully seriously. If there were even a hint of a twinkle, the comedy wouldn’t work. The comedy works. Each performer has excellent timing and good interplay with the others. What they don’t have as characters is any particular likability. I acknowledge that my preference for likable characters is a personal quirk, so this won’t be a problem for everyone. Prue stops just shy of sarcasm, and I’ve never not enjoyed Bruce Nelson in anything. Nam, who was absolutely magnificent as George in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? this past spring, portrays a very different sort of character in ‘Art’. Director Noah Himmelstein delivers restrained character movements while keeping the piece from being static, a real risk in such a “talk-y” show.
The sound quality is crystal clear. It helps that the audience is very quiet, but with the crisp and rhythmic dialogue Reza has written, missing any of it would be disastrous to comprehension.
Scenic Designer Paige Hathaway, whose turntable candy-boxes for Primary Trust thrilled me earlier this year, presents a single set that emits a luxurious gleam through subtly burnished furniture and glorious trappings. Tastefully elegant brass chandeliers and sconces, hung very high, suggest vaulted ceilings and enormous mansions, and whisper “spared no expense.” Smooth sliding panels glide back and forth to indicate scene changes. A particularly beautiful piece of the set is the scrim behind the panels, which catches color like a skylit lake. Lighting Designer Harold F. Burgess II creates mesmerizing glows on that backdrop, setting the tenor of each scene, moving rapidly through briefly fascinating ombre color shifts during scenic changes, then settling down so we can watch the actors.
‘Art,’ was originally written in French and translated into English almost immediately by Christopher Hampton. At this point, it has been performed in at least 30 languages. It opened in the West End (London) in 1996 and ran for six years. ‘Art’ gathered a number of awards, including a Moliere (France), an Olivier (England), and a Tony (USA). Reza’s following play, God of Carnage (2008), and its subsequent film adaptation may have brought renewed attention to this quiet show. Learn more about the playwright and translator when you have a peek at Everyman’s online program.
The pre-show bar offers thematic drinks — I choose “Blank Canvas,” which I enjoy very much, though it is a bit sweeter than my usual preference. There are also alcohol-free specialty beverages. Don’t wait until intermission: there’s not one in this show. Drinks with lids are permitted in the theater, but snacks are not.
One of the entertaining things about art is that people disagree about art. Yasmina Reza’s ‘Art’ at Everyman places that tempest in a pretty china teapot. It’s sharp, it’s smart, it’s short, and it might make you appreciate your friendships more and your decor less, or, possibly, the reverse.
Running time: 90 minutes, with no intermission.
‘Art’ plays through November 16, 2025, at Everyman Theatre, 315 West Fayette Street, Baltimore, MD. For tickets (starting at $60, with student discounts and Pay-What-You-Choose tickets at every performance), call the box office at (410) 752-2208 (Monday-Friday, 10 am to 4 pm and Saturday 12 to 4 pm), email boxoffice@everymantheatre.org, or purchase them online.
The playbill is here.
‘Art’
By Yasmina Reza
Translated by Christopher Hampton
Directed by Noah Himmelstein
CAST
Tony K. Nam: Yvan
Bruce Randolph Nelson: Serge
Kyle Prue: Marc
CREATIVE TEAM
Noah Himmelstein: Director
Paige Hathaway: Scenic Design
Jeannette Christensen: Costume Design
Harold F. Burgess II: Lighting Design
Sun Hee Kil: Sound Design
Lewis Shaw: Fights/Intimacy
Molly Prunty: Stage Manager
Final Factoids: When I reviewed Art at Vagabonds Theatre in 2014, the production had a completely different ethos. A revival of Art on Broadway, starring Neil Patrick Harris, plays through December 2025.
