In his 1935 essay ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’, Walter Benjamin observes that “In principle, the work of art has always been reproducible”. The reproducibility of art, its authenticity, genuineness and function or purpose, are all issues that compellingly take centre stage in Anthony McCarten’s new play, The Collaboration.
McCarten’s new play is a bio-dramatic depiction of the artistic collaboration between the world’s “most famous” artist Andy Warhol (Paul Bettany), and the up and coming, visceral young talent Jean-Michel Basquiat (Jeremy Pope). The collaboration, which is billed as a heavyweight contest between two competing artists, finds the play folding into a series of conflicts which make the overall performance seem somewhat leaden, at times. Basquiat’s violent paintworks are confronted with the endlessly mechanical reproduction and repetition of Warhol’s iconic prints; issues of racial conflict, including an instance of police brutality, are tentatively teased out in the second half of the play, and a generally combative approach about how to create art and what art should mean sustains the often fraught relationship between the two artists.
The largest division in the play though might be attributed to Kwame Kwei-Armah’s directorial decision to include an interval. At first the interval appears, ostensibly, as an opportunity to shift the set from Warhol’s studio to Basquiat’s, and to account for the time spent collaborating together. By the play’s end though, the interval signals a rather dramatic shift in substance. If the first half of the play is primarily a conversation about the purpose and function of art, then the second half seems more focused on the lives of the artists’ themselves.
This arc seems logical, but too much is left unaccounted for in the space opened up by the interval, and the development in Basquiat’s and Warhol’s relationship is not entirely clear. The two are suggested to have become increasingly close over their years of working together—Warhol’s character enters on stage at the beginning of the second act donning a jacket with Basquiat’s face lambasted on the back of it—and there are even hints of a sexually intimate connection between them.
Tonally though their conversation does not change. And, in the climactic lead up to the pair’s confrontation, the substance of the script’s dialogue falters and Warhol’s ultimately cathartic revelation as to why he stopped painting feels bathetic—especially considering Basquiat’s recent knowledge of his friend’s death in an instance of police brutality. As such, there is a certain lack of depth between the two artists’ relationship which hampers the suggested reconciliatory force of art which ends the play.
Anna Fleischele’s set design makes use of projected images on canvassed screens, and a host of plain or erratically sprawled upon canvases and artworks to create a stylistic and immersive feeling of a 1980s New York Studio. There is also a live DJ whose selection of jazz and pop classics contributes to the immersive environment set on stage.
Moreover, there are moments when the dialogue is sharp and largely humorous—Bruno’s (Alec Newman) Swiss-inflected, sarcastic profanities often elicited hearty laughs. Largely, the play is anchored and redeemed by the enthralling performances of Jeremy Pope (Basquiat) and Paul Bettany (Andy Warhol). There is much to be enjoyed, enthused and impressed by in this timely and entertaining production of The Collaboration.
Words by Jack Rondeau
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