Real Art

or those who are partial to New York theater, the theater in this area is typically unbearable. Let's face it: If it weren't, Ninth Street would be named Broadway and great theater types would roam from Main Street to Hillsborough Road--but they don't. However, until Feb. 10 they will roam Franklin Street.

Playmakers Repertory In Chapel Hill is in the middle of their month-long run of Art by Yasmina Reza. After seeing the play on Broadway--at the time it was staring Joe Morton, George Wendt and Judd Hirsch--seeing another production in Chapel Hill seemed doomed to unfavorable comparison. However, the two productions could not have been more different, and in many cases, the changes made for a crisper, more successful production.

The set is simple. The back wall panel is the exact color of a lime peel and the floor is a light hardwood. The scene changes allow the scenes to flow together seamlessly. A panel in the floor opens up and the center piece (or lack thereof) of each of three apartments rises. Perhaps the most interesting is the demi-staircase, which gives the illusion that the room we see is on the second floor.

Playmakers is lucky to have such an astute resident director in their company. Ted Shaffner has certainly learned from some of the best living directors, with names like Michael Kahn and Gerald Gutierrez on his resume (he's served as assistant director to both), and he showed his fresh vision in his version of Art.

This production is crisp and clever, thanks to Shaffner and his three very talented actors. The fluidity of the production allows for the conflict to take centerstage with the art as the backdrop.

Art is the story of the demise of a friendship among three men over an argument about a painting. Serge (Ray Dooley) buys a painting for a small fortune, but his best friend Marc (Philip Davidson) detests it. Yvan (Kenneth Strong) has long acted as the glue that binds the two together--but this time it doesn't work.

The trick here is that the canvas is a white square, but Serge believes it is "full of color." The white square completely exposes the truth of the friendship, stripped of the things that tied it together and revealed to be as bare as the canvas. In the end it is the naked base that allows for their relationship to start anew.

Strong's performance in this production is outstanding, though he plays his character perhaps too effeminately. Yvan's report of his family and fiancZe's disagreement about their wedding invitation is absolutely hysterical--not an ounce slips by unnoticed. Both Dooley and Davidson bring color and clarity to their dualing roles, both of which are essential to the production.