Art is a French-language play by Yasmina Reza that premiered in 1994 at Comédie des Champs-Élysées in Paris. The play subsequently ran in London in 1996 and on Broadway in 1998. Productions The play premiered on 28 October 1994 at Comédie des Champs-Élysées in Paris. The English-language adaptation, translated by Christopher Hampton and directed by Matthew Warchus opened in London's West End on 15 October 1996 at the Wyndham's Theatre (before moving to the Whitehall Theatre in October 2001) starring Albert Finney, Tom Courtenay and Ken Stott, produced by David Pugh and Sean Connery running for over six years until 3 January 2003, with Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton and Mark Gatiss (aka The League of Gentlemen) in the final cast. Art played on Broadway in New York at the Royale Theatre from 12 February 1998 to 8 August 1999, again produced by Pugh and Connery, plus Joan Cullman. The opening cast featured Alan Alda (Marc), Victor Garber (Serge), and Alfred Molina (Yvan), who was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance. Art won the Tony for Best Play and went on to a 600-performance run. From December 2016 to February 2017 the production, directed by Matthew Warchus was revived at The Old Vic in London to celebrate its 20th anniversary, starring Rufus Sewell, Tim Key and Paul Ritter and began touring the UK from February 2018 starring Nigel Havers, Denis Lawson and Stephen Tompkinson. In August 2021, a Canadian theatre company Crane Creations led a play reading event of 'Art'. A group of professional theatre artists discussed the form, themes, style, and current world issues related to the play. The play reading event aims to raise appreciation of playwrights and playwrighting from around the globe. Overview The comedy, which raises questions about art and friendship, concerns three long-time friends, Serge, Marc, and Yvan. Serge, indulging his penchant for modern art, buys a large, expensive, completely white painting. Marc is horrified, and their relationship suffers considerable strain as a result of their differing opinions about what constitutes "art". Yvan, caught in the middle of the conflict, tries to please and mollify both of them. The play is not divided into acts and scenes in the traditional manner, but it does nevertheless fall into sections (numbered 1–17 by Pigeat). Some of these are dialogues between two characters, several are monologues where one of the characters