Secret men's business.
By: Jane Hampson.
14th March 1999. 
Sun Herald

Jane Hampson quizzes actors John Waters, Tom Conti and David Wenham on the art of male friendship. 

In case you've been stuck in outer Siberia for most of the 90s (lucky you), let's refresh your memory. On the Venus side of 
things is the phenomenon of female bonding, (allegedly) carried out while shopping or going to the bathroom together. Over 
in the Mars camp, male friendship is bound by (allegedly) things more practical. Such as fire (see: No, mate, I know what's 
wrong; sub-group suburban barbecue) and the car engine (ditto, but with the bonnet open). 

Unbreakable ties, we're told, are forged between men in such situations. Moments of essential bonding that lead to Mateship. 
And that's as strong as anything forged in a BHP mill, not to mention the locker room. 

Ah, but how brittle male friendship can be. All it takes is one little banana peel ... 
In the case of the much talked about new play called Art, that banana peel is a painting. A very expensive, all-white canvas 
that proves the catalyst for the breakdown of a three-way friendship. 

Art is a play by Yasmina Reza which, since opening in Paris in 1994, has been translated into 30 languages. It has been 
playing in London's West End since 1996 and New York's Broadway since early last year. 

It comes to Sydney next month and stars David Wenham, John Waters and, controversially, British import Tom Conti, who has
weathered a storm of protest about being cast instead of a local actor. Over breakfast on the first day of rehearsal the 
trio pondered the conundrum that is male friendship, and the pinpoint accuracy with which Reza, a woman, has dissected it. 

"In England, men go to pubs together, but in France they go to dinner or to the movies or theatre," Conti said. "In England, 
men don't do that because you go to the movies with a girl." 

Wenham continued: "It's football in Melbourne. The opening gambit in Melbourne is, 'So, who do you barrack for?' You can't 
escape it." 

Waters, who plays Serge, the one who has just spent 200,000 francs on an all-white painting, said: "What is that crucial 
point in the play where we say to each other, 'What bonds us to each other?'. "I mean, don't you think women are more 
emotional in their friendships and give themselves more emotionally in a friendship than men? I think so, generally." 

Audiences worldwide have found Art's male unbonding over a painting very funny. The kind of funny that crosses language 
barriers. But while the audiences are rolling in the aisles, critics have been more sceptical. Some have hailed it 
"sophisticated and stylish", but others described it as "banal" and "pandering to popular prejudice". 

"It's people in the audience and people on stage against a common enemy, or what is perceived to be a common enemy - which 
is modernity. Modern art," Conti said. "You know when Marc (Conti's character) says it (the painting) is a piece of s---, 
the audience is like, 'We're on the same wavelength'." 

"But that's not to say that modern art should be dismissed wholesale," said Wenham. "Everyone has a different reaction to 
art. You can't say one person or one person's work is more valid than another person's." 

Waters contends that in its deconstruction of modern art and male friendship, Art is a play that is particularly French; 
France being a country where art, life and the universe are up for constant discussion. 

"France is one of the few countries where philosophers are actually TV stars," he said. "You know, 'Our special guest for 
today is Jean-Claude something, philosophe de...' They examine everything. 

"We're hedonists. We like to say, 'Ah, they're too serious', but they examine everything. There's a lot of Gallic 
examination in this play." 

So will the play be modified for perceived local tastes? "No," Conti said. "I don't think any of us is wearing a hat with 
corks." Waters said: "People talk about Australian mateship as if Australian men were the only people who had mates. 

"It's all over the world. Just because there's a version of it in Australia we've made it into a sort of icon of Australian 
culture, the fact that men hang out and drink beer. 

"Perhaps the fact that we dwell on it says something about Australia, not the mateship itself." 

* Art opens at the Theatre Royal, City, from April 3.