‘ART' skillfully delves into thorny questions about who our friends are — and why we stick with them

Boston Globe

24-02-2025

While the play starts out as a silly disagreement over a painting, it evolves into an examination of compromises and the acceptance of differences that make friendships possible. Reza's skill lies in her ability to create three remarkably distinct characters and then craft the conditions of conflict that push them together and pull them apart in different combinations.
The play is catnip for great actors, and at the Lyric Stage, Kaye, Kuntz, and Airaldi do not disappoint. Kaye is prim and pretentious as Serge, the dermatologist who sees himself as a sophisticated art collector and has paid what he admits is a ridiculous price for a white painting accented by some white, diagonal lines. Kuntz, as Marc, an aeronautical engineer, is smug and arrogant as a man who mocks rather than admires his friend's purchase.
Michael Kaye and John Kuntz in "ART."
Mark S. Howard
And Airaldi is irresistible as Yvan, the hapless paper salesman caught in the middle. From the first moment he appears, with his innocent, childlike gaze, we know he'll play right into the hands of first Marc and then Serge, with disastrous results. Even as he tries to please each of them, he is juggling another layer of relationship problems that include his fiancé, his mother, and his in-laws.
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The fact that these three men appear to have very little in common allows the actors to dig a little deeper into their complexity, even though we may wonder how they became friends in the first place. How often, in fact, do we tolerate a friend's quirky tendencies because we value other qualities, and how often do we think we know someone, only to discover something completely unexpected? Reza's play poses a challenging question: how do we go on after such revelations?
Although the script unfolds in a series of conversations that are more verbally active, rather than physically so, O'Connor (who is also Lyric's artistic director) anchors each member of the trio in idiosyncratic personality quirks that make the experience less passive. Just listen to their aggressively insincere laughter (making us squirm as we imagine them thinking 'I'm not laughing
at
you, I'm laughing
with
you'). Or watch Kuntz mock his friend's wife's 'repellent' habit of waving away smoke. It's a ridiculously petty gesture that manages to be both hilarious and vicious.
O'Connor also creates a pace that honors the escalating tensions while allowing us to see the fissures in the friendships. Much of the credit here goes to lighting designer Elmer Martinez, who echoes O'Connor's sense of precision with perfectly timed lighting changes that communicate moments of self-reflection as each character considers his position, as well as a new time or location.
The verbal wrestling match culminates in a physical one, with a denouement that includes a carefully calculated concession by Marc, who purchased the painting. The friends' ability to blaze a path forward depends as much on their awareness of their peccadillos and the vulnerability they feel towards each other (as happens in longtime friendships) as it does on their respect and compassion for one another. Although Reza's conclusion feels a little too pat, the first-rate performances make this trip into the absurd world of judgmental friendships one worth taking.
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ART
Play by Yasmina Reza, translation by Christopher Hampton. Directed by Courtney O'Connor. Presented by Lyric Stage Company, through March 16. Tickets: $10-$81. 617-585-5678,