REVIEW: ART by Yasmina Reza at Etcetera Theatre 11 – 14 March 2026
‘Complex, enthralling and timeless’ ★★★★★
Pretentious. Judgmental. Neurotic. Highbrow. Anti-establishment. Conciliatory. The three leads of Yasmina Reza’s iconic 1994 play ‘Art’ are all of those things and more. And they find themselves in a bit of a predicament.
Serge (Harry Dillon) has bought a white painting. Mark (Dan Daniels) thinks it’s shit. Ivan (Tom Terry) is caught in the middle. Logically, none of this is actually about the painting.
‘Art’, above all, is about friendship. A beautiful, strained, messy friendship, full of ups and downs, that still refuses to die. Serge, Mark and Ivan aren’t as different as they would like to think. Throughout the play, we (and they) realise that underneath it all, they see themselves in each other more than they would like to admit and they must come to terms with that. Like all good comedy-dramas, Art’s many hilarious lines mask the deeper issues that lie underneath and the three leads of the new HATODA production go through the tragicomic dynamics of the play with note-perfect delivery and timing under Sam Smithson's direction. In fact, the performances by Dillon, Daniels and Terry are some of the best I’ve seen on the London stage in a very long time. They play off each other perfectly and each of them breathes new life into characters that have been played by countless actors over the years.
Art’s commentary on friendship is so complex, enthralling and timeless, one can actually imagine that some of the most famous friendship breakdowns happened more or less like this. It’s totally plausible to think John, Paul and George had similar conversations at Tittenhurst Park, the farm in Scotland and Friar Park in 1971. Who knows?
ART, Etcetera Theatre, 11 – 14 March
BOX OFFICE https://www.citizenticket.com/events/etcetera-theatre/art/
Reviewer Carol Saint Martin is a screenwriter, playwright and blogger. Her plays HABITAT and LOBBY have been performed on the London stage, and her film OPEN HELL premiered at the London Lift-Off Film Festival in 2025.
