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Stars explained: * A production of no real merit
with failings in all areas. ** A production showing evidence of not
enough time or effort, or even talent, and which never breathes any real
life into the piece – or a show lumbered with a terrible script. *** A
good enjoyable show which might have some small flaws but has largely
achieved what it set out to do.**** An excellent show which shows a
great deal of work and stage craft with no noticeable or major
flaws.***** A four star show which has found that extra bit of magic
which lifts theatre to another plane. |
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Paul Hanna's Marc looks for . . . the variations of . . . white in the white on white painting while Jon Richardson's Serge looks on Art Hall Green Little Theatre ***** So art, life's Marmite made flesh . . or canvas or stone or whatever. We all know what we like and what we think is s**t, even if one man's piece of s**t is another man's masterpiece, in this case a €100,000 masterpiece . . . or piece of s**t, there for all to see in black and white . . . well, just in white in this case. The painting hangs on a glorious three handed comedy, with laugh out loud lines about the perils of friends and friendships, in what is the best Hall Green production for some time. Serge, is a successful Parisienne dermatologist with a failed marriage and aspirations of urbane sophistication, hence his purchase of this early Antrios work, a white-on-white affair (the artist is fictional by the way). Serge's friend Marc thinks it is all a joke, with laughter turning bitter, even angry, when he realises Serge really did pay €100,000. Marc is a down-to-earth aeronautical engineer who sees himself as the voice of common sense – and the (unelected) group alpha male. Then there is Yvan, who studiously avoids disagreeing, upsetting or offending anyone which often sees him sitting on his regular perch on the fence looking both ways. Yvan was in textiles, but the firm went bust so he is now a reluctant stationery salesman for the uncle of the girl he is about to marry. A marriage with its own problems - his mammoth monologue about wedding invitations and stepmothers is a comic gem. The trio have been best friends for a quarter of a century, perhaps with more differences than things in common, but it had worked, they had slipped into an easy habit of friendship until along came the interloper, the painting, which found and widened cracks that had lain dormant.
Paul Hanna's Marc finds Al McCaughey's Yvan agrees . . . maybe, or maybe not about Serge
The essentially blank canvas is there to paint its own portraits of the changing faces of the three friends. Jon Richardson's Serge is declaring a sort of independence. Whether he really loves the white-on-white painting hardly matters, it's his entry to a more sophisticated, more refined world. It's almost a midlife crisis, a means of reinventing himself Paul Hanna's Marc might hate the painting on the face of it, but his anger, indeed fury, is out of all proportion. His anger is at change, losing control, being left behind by his old friend who is heading off in a direction he neither wants to go nor even understands. And then there is Al McCaughey's Yvan. With the other pair at war, he bends so much to keep the peace he is doing cartwheels. We are never sure what he thinks or feels, he is like a sponge, soaking up other people's emotions and squeezing them out when required. The painting is merely the fourth character, the silent partner, a catalyst to force the trio to examine themselves with a blank canvas ready for a new picture. Will the friendships survive? Of course they will. A quarter century builds up an awful lot of goodwill, closeness, love even . . . and pressure, and a painting, even a €100,000 piece of s**t one, releases the valve and resets relationships giving everyone a chance to change into what they are now instead of what they have seemed to be, or were expected to be for years. It is a favourite play of director Matt Ludlam, on his HGLT directorial debut and he has done a fine job with pace and characterisation on a simple, effective and intentionally bland, colourless set. I first saw this play eight years ago with Nigel Havers as Serge, Denis Lawson as Marc and Stephen Tompkinson as Yvan and this production would not look out of place in such company, it is that good with superb acting to create sublimely convincing characters. The result is simply a piece of contemporary art which sets up a test for three longstanding friends and what started as a disagreement about taste and art blows up into what becomes a witty, gloriously funny and revealing battle about status, honesty, truth and that cornerstone of friendship, loyalty. A wonderful production well worth seeing. To 07-02-26. Roger Clarke02-02-26 |
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