Art A Play

by Reza, Yasmina; Hampton, Christopher

• ISBN13: 9780571190140
• ISBN10: 0571190146
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-03-06
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Summary

The Tony Award-winning play that focuses on the meaning of art (in the form of a solid white painting) as well as the meaning of friendship, to both the man who bought the painting and the two friends who come to see it." Yasmina Reza, born in Paris in 1959, is an acclaimed playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. Her first play,Conversations Apregrave;s un Enterrement(Conversations After a Burial) won her the 1987 Moliegrave;re Award for Best Author along with a Johnson Foundation Award and a SACD New Talent Award. Her other works for the theater includeArtandThe Unexpected Man, among others. She lives in Paris. Winner of the Moliere Award for Best Play, Production and Author Winner of the Tony Award for Best Play Winner of the Olivier Award for Best New Comedy Winner of theEvening StandardAward for Best New Comedy Art, translated from the French by Christopher Hampton, premiered at the prestigious Schaubuhne in Berlin. The play deals with men's friendship, honesty, the obsession with modernism and social status. It revolves around a white-on-white painting which Serge, a dermatologist, has bought for 200,000 francs. This so irritates Marc that his contempt threatens their long-time friendship. Yvan, the third character in the play, vacillates, distracted by his own premarital mess. At issue, in part, is the famous question: "What is art ?" The white canvas pushes at the limits of the definition in the age-old debate. "This is not some irrelevant fringe production; it is a major intervention in the cultural debate of the country by people who are keen to keep the reactionary tides running. It is probably the most sustained attack on modernism yet seen on the British stage, and it represents a stern challenge to the brilliant success story of British contemporary art."The Guardian "Not only brings to the stage a topical debate, it makes it invigorating, touching and finally disturbing. This dark comedy, translated from the French, in sparkling form, explores its themes through a rift between friends."Financial Times "A remarkably wise, witty and intelligent comedy . . . has touched a universal nerve."The Times "Chic, short, and wickedly, perceptively funny, it's the perfect West End play."Nick Curtis,Evening Standard "Art, which has been translated from the French by Christopher Hampton, is filled from first curtain to ending with a dazzling array of language."Iris Fanger,Christian Science Monitor "It's an actor's dream, a nonstop cross-fire of crackling language, serious issues of life and art expressed in outbursts that sound like Don Rickles with a degree from the Sorbonne. Brilliantly translated by Christopher Hampton, . . .Arttakes that yawny old bore, the play of ideas, and jolts it to life."Jack Kroll,Newsweek

Author Biography

Yasmina Reza, born in Paris in 1959, is an acclaimed playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. Her first play, Conversations AprFs un Enterrement (Conversations After a Burial) won her the 1987 MoliFre Award for Best Author along with a Johnson Foundation Award and a SACD New Talent Award. Her other works for the theater include Art and The Unexpected Man, among others. She lives in Paris.

Table of Contents

"This is not some irrelevant fringe production; it is a major intervention in the cultural debate of the country by people who are keen to keep the reactionary tides running. It is probably the most sustained attack on modernism yet seen on the British stage, and it represents a stern challenge to the brilliant success story of British contemporary art."--The Guardian

"Not only brings to the stage a topical debate, it makes it invigorating, touching and finally disturbing. This dark comedy, translated from the French, in sparkling form, explores its themes through a rift between friends."--Financial Times

"A remarkably wise, witty and intelligent comedy . . . has touched a universal nerve."--The Times

"Chic, short, and wickedly, perceptively funny, it's the perfect West End play."--Nick Curtis, Evening Standard

"Art, which has been translated from the French by Christopher Hampton, is filled from first curtain to ending with a dazzling array of language."--Iris Fanger, Christian Science Monitor

"It's an actor's dream, a nonstop cross-fire of crackling language, serious issues of life and art expressed in outbursts that sound like Don Rickles with a degree from the Sorbonne. Brilliantly translated by Christopher Hampton, . . . Art takes that yawny old bore, the play of ideas, and jolts it to life."--Jack Kroll, Newsweek

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