The subject of Yasmina Reza’s Tony Award-winning play “Art” isn’t paintings and sculptures in the great museums of the world; artists struggling to create art; or art as defined by curators who aren’t artists but write tirelessly about it.
Berkeley’s Shotgun Players are staging a satisfying production of the provocative show, which explores the nature of friendship and personal connections. It’s about Serge (Benoît Monin), a well-off, middle-aged dermatologist who pays a fortune for an artwork that’s simply a super large white-on-white canvas. Marc (David Sinaiko), his friend and mentor, does not mince words. He tells Serge the painting is valueless, and worse. Meanwhile, their friend Yvan (Woody Harper) can’t make up his mind about it, which is as offensive to Serge as if he had been hypercritical.
As the three circle the painting and discuss it, injured feelings and irritations from a longstanding friendship come up and they engage in wordplay, tossing around such strong negatives as treason and betrayal.
The acting is superb. Director Emilie Whelan regulates the onstage temperature so that Marc or Yvan almost relent to validate Serge—until they don’t, and the collective upset grows.
“Art,” translated by Christopher Hampton from the original French (the play premiered in Paris in 1994) is intended to be a comedy. As striking as this production is, Whelan could temper the intensity to bring out the play’s humor and charm, or the possibility of an ongoing friendship between the characters, which the playwright must have had in mind. It’s doubtful this trio will hang out much in the future.
Randy Wong-Westbrooke’s set transforms cleverly into each of the three characters’ apartments. Serge rolls his painting around on an easel trying to figure out where to hang the work. Marc has a “faux Belgian landscape” on display on the right, and Yvan’s “motel art” is on the left in his place.
Shotgun Players’ “Art’ is a highwire, nervy, rewarding 90 minutes.
Shotgun Players’ “Art” continues through April 6, 2025 at Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., Berkeley. Tickets are $25 to $80 at shotgunplayers.org.
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