Even in the wildness of show week, the directorial team have time to sit down with The Student, on what must feel like the busiest week of their lives. Luckily, Arthur Siri and Effi Bletsas-White are too enthusiastic about their upcoming production of Yasmina Reza’s ‘Art’ (in translation by Christopher Hampton) for their zeal to be dampened by the chaos which ensues when creating a Bedlam show.
The play is one that Arthur, the director, first received on his birthday many years ago in the original French. Citing its up-to-date, modern style of writing, something rarely seen not only on Bedlam’s stage, but more widely in student theatre, as reasoning for his love of the play, it is also interesting to note what the pair have decided to update. While the play is usually performed in very minimalist styles, with a strong focus on the eponymous piece of ‘art’ work – a modern, completely white painting akin to a blank canvas, Arthur and Effi have decided to go in a very different direction: “We wanted our production to be more about the characters and their relationships, and how that changes because of the painting, rather than [the play] being about the painting.”
Arthur mentions a previous production he’s seen, where the entirety of the set is draped in white material, creating a surreal, heightened atmosphere that is miles away from the realism that this production dips into. Indeed, Effi, the assistant director, tells me about the set design: “We decided to flesh out the characters’ lives a bit more through the set, having each of their spaces individually defined and allowing them to move between those.”
There is another crucial difference within this production, Arthur tells me: “spoiler alert – the audience doesn’t see the painting throughout the whole play, up until the closing moments. Again, the audience has to focus on the characters instead of interpreting the painting itself.”
I can’t help but marvel at the production’s photoshoot, creatively directed by the talented Beau Wolton, who originated the idea for the painted shirts. Abstract though they were, Effi tells me that even this idea was rooted in symbolism: “The paint on Yvan’s shirt was very squiggly, reflecting the chaos and eccentricity that he brings, and Serge’s is very straight and rigid.”
I ask the pair how their roles complement each other in rehearsal. While Arthur pitched the play originally, he tells me that Effi was asked to come on board on a night out: “When we first met to talk about the play, we realised that we had very similar approaches to directing it, and could see the same ideas coming across. Practically, it [is] great. You have another set of eyes on the piece.”
Effi adds, “What I wanted to really bring out was the comedy aspect of it. For certain scenes, that was what I was really there for: directing the actors to be able to sort of take it further and make it funnier and more engaging.”
Rehearsals have been a blast, it seems, with the recent spell of atypically pleasant weather making it possible for a couple to be held out on The Meadows. Arthur tells me that the cast have been having fun with the script in rehearsals: “What’s been so great in the past week or so is watching them try and make each other break in rehearsals. When we’re doing funny scenes, they really push it, like making a silence a minute long to see who laughs first.”
I ask them what moments in the play they have the most fun with. The pair have one that immediately springs to mind: “There is 5 minutes of the most ludicrous monologue, that’s actually just one sentence with no full stops. You think it’s going to be a little bit or a rant, and then it keeps going and going, and you’re like, wow, is he going to pass out? We just let Dan play around with it – he’s really just sort of messing around.”
It’s funny, introspective towards the end, and hasn’t been put on at Bedlam for 20 years or so, Arthur tells me. “Our actors are fantastic […] seeing them interact is going to be great.”
EUTC’s production of ‘Art’ by Yasmina Reza (translated by Christopher Hampton) ran at Bedlam Theatre for four nights, from 25–28 March.
Photography by Beau Wolton for ‘Art’