In the play “Art,” currently running at the Lyric Stage in Boston, three men find their friendship tested after one buys an expensive white painting.
Asking tough questions
It asks the question: Can you just put aside an important difference of opinion when a friend’s outlook on something is the exact opposite of yours? Â
One thinks the painting is a masterpiece, another thinks it’s trash, and the third isn’t quite sure who’s right.
The different reactions the men have to the piece alter their views about each other.
Actor John Kuntz said, “I think they all kind of discover something they didn’t know about the other two. That leads them to all these discoveries and all this conflict that they didn’t even know existed before.”
A reflection of today’s world
“I think this play does a brilliant job of resonating in the current moment in the world that we’re in,” said Director Courtney O’Connor.
She said the painting at the center of the story could be swapped out for just about anything.
“These days, the idea that you look at someone that you know, that you thought you knew, that you thought you understood what they value, what they hold real, what they believe? And in an instant, it’s gone, and it’s challenged. And that challenges your view of that person, of your relationship to them, and quite frankly, of yourself.”
Actor Remo Airaldi says, “I certainly have had relationships with people who don’t believe the things that I believe. And at some point you have to ask yourself, okay, do I walk away? Is this important enough for me to say no more friendship with this person? It’s tough.”
A sophisticated comedy Â
While the one-act play is a sophisticated comedy, actor Michael Kaye said it tackles some deep issues.
“What’s it like to have hard conversations with people you love and respect? It’s very easy to have the surface questions, but what happens if you go underneath? I think those are important conversations to have and ones we sometimes avoid, but we avoid them at our own peril, I think.”
You can see “Art” at the Lyric Stage through March 16.
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