The Art Couple 

Reviewed by Lovell Estell III 
Sacred Fools Theater Company at the Broadwater Black Box 
Extended through April 21 

RECOMMENDED 

Paul Gauguin, Vincent Van Gogh and Neil Simon: two icons of the brush and canvass, another of the written word and stage, are all cleverly brought together in this striking world premiere by playwright Brendan Hunt.

Hunt has drawn on an interesting slice of art history for his script. Gauguin and Van Gough briefly lived together in the Yellow House in Arles France in 1888, ostensibly to connect with their respective muses (it wasn’t a pleasant parting; some nine weeks later, Van Gogh lost an ear). The play opens with a high-spirited poker game in the residence of pointillist painter Georges Seurat (Joel Scher), whose famous painting “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte,” is propped against the wall in full view. Present are Auguste Rodin (Kristyn Evelyn), Henri de Toulouse Lautrec (Laura Nicole Harrison), and Gauguin (Bryan Bellomo). The jokes, banter, insults and hilarity swirl around the table like the wind. When the habitually dysphoric and absinthe-addled Van Gogh (Hunt) enters, complete with ginger beard, he announces his intention to start an artist’s colony in Arles, and Gauguin reluctantly agrees to join him.

From this notable gathering, we shift to the Village Gate jazz club in New York, 1963, where a lone figure sits at a table, furiously scribbling away. It’s last call, and Neil Simon (Adam Meredith), is struggling to find the words for a play he has already sold the rights to. He is befriended by the handsome busboy Steve (Ryan Patrick Welsh), who convinces him to decamp with him to the Catskills so that he can find his muse and write the play. Back and forth in time, we watch these parallel scenarios and artistic worlds unfold and overlap, with a ton of laughs along the way, under the smart direction of Lauren Van Kurin. Hunt instills Van Gogh with a hilarious mix of eccentricity, pining emotional needs, and eerie obsessiveness, in blaring contrast to Bellomo’s Gauguin, who is confident, boastful, and oddly charming. They are, indeed, an odd couple.

The ensemble does a splendid job in multiple roles. Marie-Françoise Theodore does a stellar turn as both the mouthy prostitute Rachel and the elegant Madame Giroux. Corwin Evans’ superb projection design and Andrew Schmedake’s lighting impart an alluring intimacy to the collage of paintings featured throughout. The set design by DeAnne Millais is simple but effective, allowing audience viewing from opposite sides, while Linda Muggeridge provides a stylish assortment of costumes.

The Broadwater Black Box, 6322 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles; Fri.-Sat, 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.; Extended through April 21; www.sacredfools.org Running time Two hours with an intermission.

For more on The Art Couple, see Notes from Arden