Modern art isn't everybody's cup of tea, but is there a chance that it could change your life?
Guy Plinge is about to find out as the random occurrence of dropping a teacup splits his future into two parallel universes that run in tandem. It's an oft-used device, the best-known example probably being from the film Sliding Doors.
The play opens with two actors playing a video game. This is to allow us to understand that they are actually one and the same person, but there is nothing entertaining about watching someone playing video games for 5 minutes (you can ask my girlfriend).
The action then revolves around a painting titled "Storm in A Teacup" which he buys under different circumstances in each reality. Along the way we are provided with a bit of a back-story through the eyes of a pretentious celebrity reporter and former renegade and now new "it boy" artist. Things might not be all they seem and Guy's brush with the fickle world of art buying sees his fortunes changing before the paint is dry.
It's a reasonable enough plot but the script has few moments of humour and some of the characters are handed horrible lines. Most of the satire is laid on too thick. Yes, exaggeration is one of the tools of satire, but here the characters from the art world are lampooned to an extent that they are reduced to caricatures of lovey or tortured artist. There is just no chiaroscuro, daahling!
In terms of the performances, I will give them the benefit of the doubt. Hopefully they are intended as over-the-top send-up, but if not, there is some truly awful acting. Either way, it's not pleasant viewing.
It's a pity really, as considerable work has gone into the staging and the play actually imitates art in making a point similar to that of Eugenio Merono's sculpture "4 the Love of Go(l)d".
At the end we are enjoined to tell people if we liked the production or stay quiet if we didn't. Sorry to stir.
Times: 24 -29 August 2009, 12.15pm.