Like all good
plays ‘about’ an issue, Thomas de Angelis’ Unfinished
Works is simultaneously about and not about art. While it also,
certainly, covers being an artist, making art, and delves into issues of
artistic integrity, honesty, and the entire history of Western art’s habit of
celebrating Big Name Artists over the content or substance of their work, Unfinished Works is also a story about
parents and children, about growing up and leaving the nest, about friendship,
relationships, and about people connecting with each other.
Produced by Bontom
and playing in the Seymour Centre’s Reginald Theatre, Unfinished Works is about an artist, Frank Ralco, who has been
commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art and has two weeks remaining in
which to complete the piece. After a meeting with a builder-cum-property
developer, and still unable to paint, Ralco forms a friendship with Isabel, an aspiring
artist, and the two hatch a plan to test the power of their art, and change the
course of their lives.
Charles Davis’ set
of wooden panels is at once empty and full – by turn a studio, a well-off
mansion, and an empty warehouse as the occasion arises, with barely anything
more than a change of lights to signify this. Perhaps like Ralco, the artist in
de Angelis’ play, we are always under scrutiny, always being exhibited whether
we like it or not, and the set cleverly evokes this in a subtle way. Directed
by Clemence Williams, there is a hum beneath the surface of this new play, a
hum of ideas, of passions, of ideals and a desire to be honest with yourself, your
critics, your audiences, with those closest to you. Williams’ direction is
fluid – characters sometimes appear in the background of preceeding scenes
before their next scene starts, and two physically separate spaces often exist
within the same moment on stage, juxtaposed against each other – and there is a
precision and economy to her staging, an attention to detail which is often
overlooked by more experienced directors.
Williams’ cast are
very strong, and there is a thrilling moment about halfway through when the
cast of five find themselves on stage together as fireworks start going off. Lucy
Goleby plays Frank Ralco, and there is something affecting about her
performance –despite the brusque exterior, there is a passionate and moving
examination of having traded integrity for fame, and at what price; moving
through cynicism, fear, doubt, and defiance, towards something akin to
calmness, Goleby’s portrayal is honest and tangible. Contessa Treffone’s Isabel
is perhaps a little too naïve and star-struck at first, but as she grows her
wings and as her friendship with Ralco grows, so too does her strength and
conviction, and her confrontation with her parents is both moving and angry in
a heartbeat. As Isabel’s parents, there is a down-to-earth quality to Rhett
Walton’s performance as her dad, at the same time as he defies the ethical
status-quo he tries to uphold. Deborah Galanos, as Isabel’s mother, is very
much conscious of her daughter’s standing in life and is determined to see her
get ahead, but at what price? The contrast between Walton and Galanos’ performances
is well-handled, and even though they seem to come from different places, they
eventually come together in a poignant moment of reconciliation, realisation,
and letting go. Kyle Kazmarzik, as Frank’s agent Jimmy, is volatile and very
much wears his reactions on his sleeve, and he offers some lighter moments in
the play’s proceedings, but underneath his somewhat comedic exterior is a deeper
sense of having betrayed his artistic integrity, and simultaneously Frank’s
integrity and friendship, but at what cost?
Recalling other
plays ‘about’ art – such as Howard Barker’s Scenes
from an Execution, John Logan’s Red,
and Yasmina Reza’s Art
– de Angelis’ play does not give answers so much as make us think about them. And
while the play is full of smart and clever ideas – combining strands of
contemporary architecture, art-making, the culture of art, and the celebration
of artists as commodities or quantifiable products – some of the strands get
left behind or aren’t explored as fully as they could be. And while this doesn’t
hamper the overall production, it does perhaps leave us with more questions
about the work than about the questions it poses.
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