23:00, Wed 18th – Sat 21st October 2006 at ADC Theatre
Michaelmas Week 2

Imagine a canvas about five foot by four…with a white background…completely white in fact…with fine white diagonal stripes. Serge has bought a painting. White and expensive. Serge thinks it's a masterpiece, Marc thinks it's a joke, Yvan wonders how you can see the stripes.

In Yasmina Reza's prize-winning play, art and friendship are yoked together in a knot of humour, pathos and aggression: a joke becomes a declaration of war, a throwaway comment becomes a personal attack; will a painting become the ruination of a fifteen-year relationship? At once hilarious, touching and disturbing, 'Art' tackles a topical debate while presenting characters and situations that are dangerously real. Are you who you think you are or who your friends think you are? What happens when your friend breaks a tacit agreement? How much would you pay for a white painting?

'You're supposed to be my friend. What kind of a friend are you, Serge, if you don't think your friends are special?'