ART
ART
Poole Lighthouse Theatre
(Review Complete)
“An intricate web of feelings and emotions between friends”
Despite all the awards and acclaim for this show, we really didn’t know what to expect. I mean, how funny can 3 men be, standing around talking about art for 80 minutes. For this reason, we went into the performance completely void of preconceptions and assumptions.
To begin with, we learned there would be no interval, which was unusual, but would become clear once the show had finished. We were also excited to see an important array of audience members there, including the mayor and mayoress of Poole, some MP’s and a well-known BBC presenter to name a few.
Upon entering the theatre, we were met with a simple, but effective set, which in itself looked like a piece of art. During the course of the play, this was manoeuvred around by the actors and cleverly portrayed different places with no real major changes to the set.
The dramatic use of lighting on the set and throughout the play was very effective and extremely clever in the way it allowed us to hear the inner thoughts of each actor.
Having heard statements about how funny the show was, we were quite taken aback by how raw and deep some of the conversations were. This play is one that needs to be listened to very carefully as the raucous moments quickly turn into a turmoil of deep-seated feelings between these 3 friends of 15 years. You soon learn that there is far more to this show than just the laughs about the art as the play unravels much deeper feelings rarely spoken so openly amongst men. At times feeling almost uncomfortable in your seat, like you are a fly on the wall and shouldn’t be witness to such an emotional affair.
Moments of sheer quiet that you’re not sure whether you should laugh or not. The end of the play genuinely made me feel like I wanted to shed a tear. My understanding of the lack of interval was clear, this was something that you couldn’t leave and come back to, it was something you needed to stay with throughout.
The outstanding performances of Seann Walsh, Chris Harper and Aden Gillett were mesmerising in their characterisations and it was astonishing at how many lines these actors had to memorise.
A special mention to Iqbal Khan who directed the show.
Reviewers: Sally and David Cooper
We are Gifted tickets so that in return we may give an honest review. All comments are those of the reviewer and theirs alone.