FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1998 All Rights Reserved.
| THEATRE Picasso at the Lapin Agile There is definitely such a thing as too much of a good thing. Steve Martin's play, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, starts out at a dead run and goes like gangbusters for the duration of its one-act acrobatics. It's a hysterical ride and in the beginning you sign on with no reservations, but before you know it, ATP's co-production with Vancouver's Belfry Theatre builds up a momentum that threatens to leave you behind. The scene is set when a young Einstein bursts into the Lapin Agile in Paris in 1904 to wait for "the Countess," despite the fact that he's told her to meet him at a bar across town. "You see, I'm a theorist," he says, "and the way I see it, there's just as much chance of her wandering in here accidentally as there is of her wandering into the Bar Rouge on purpose." Einstein and a collection of the bar's regulars chat briefly about physics, art and women, before settling down to contemplate another patron they're all expecting: Pablo Picasso. He makes his entrance as they are proposing a toast to him, a fact which delights the arrogant artist. "Did you talk about anything else besides me?" he asks. "Did the weather come up?" The scene is set for an epic clash of egos, as the two geniuses square off over whose work will have the greatest impact on the new century. There are some brilliant performances, including the always-perfect Wes Tritter as Gaston, who is to the Lapin Agile what Cliff and Norm were to Cheers. Paul Braunstein as Picasso, and Naomi Snieckus as the cheerfully cynical waitress, Germaine, are appealing and colorful enough to stand out as the play goes rushing by, but many of the others fade to a blur. Picasso and Germaine are at one point left alone in the bar for a serious discussion - a perfect opportunity for the inundated audience to catch its breath - but somehow the scene manages to continue careening by at breakneck speed. The play works itself into a frenzy near the end, and by the time the lights go down, the audience is blinking and staring in awe. Martin's jokes are relentless but not uniformly sophisticated, and unfortunately, many in the audience will miss all but the most obvious. |