'Art'

"As far as I'm concerned, it's not white."

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Serge has bought a painting. Marc hates it. Yvan is... just doing his best. Is it possible to maintain a friendship when it seems as though there is increasingly little that binds you together? 'Art', by Yasmina Reza and translated by Christopher Hampton, explores what happens when the ties of friendship are stretched to, and beyond, their breaking point.

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"If I'm who I am because I'm who I am and you're who you are because you're who you are, then I'm who I am and you're who you are. If, on the other hand, I'm who I am because you're who you are, and if you're who you are because I'm who I am, then I'm not who I am and you're not who you are." Serge and Marc dismiss Yvan's therapist Finkelzohn's words out of hand. However, it is the way they both define themselves in relation to each other that leads to this painting having such an effect on their friendship. My design focused on the way they create these deliberate distinctions, creating a flexible, clean space that becomes each of their respective flats. This served to highlight the ways they differentiate themselves, achieved by attributing each a distinctive colour scheme that dictated costumes, props, their works of art and the colour of their flats' wall.