I wonder what the painter Robert Ryman would have to say about the play Art , a Tony Award-winner running through June 10 at the Cleveland Play House. About seven years ago, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art held an exhibition of Ryman's work that was a blinding, dazzling snowdrift of white painting after white painting. A white painting is the firecracker that ignites Art . Yasmina Reza's characters are interestingly one step removed from familiarity.
Serge is too earnest to be written off as a simple snob.
And Marc is not a geezer scoffing at art that came after his time, nor a philistine proud of his ignorance, but a cool guy in a black leather jacket who thinks his friend has been had. Art tickles the audience with the question without forcing anyone to take sides. That unhectoring quality makes it seem OK to feel any way you want about modern art. Most friendships steer clear of big confrontations like the ones in Art , for sheer lack of time if nothing else. In this 90-minute play, performed without intermission, these characters explore every nook and cranny of their longtime relationships.