ART: The Award-Winning Comedy About Friendship, Taste and One Very Controversial Painting
By Naushad Khan
What would you do if your best friend spent a small fortune on a painting you thought was… well, completely ridiculous?
That is the question at the heart of ART, Yasmina Reza’s internationally acclaimed comedy, which comes to Cape Town’s Baxter Flipside for a limited season from 1 to 12 September 2026.
Translated into English by award-winning writer Christopher Hampton, ART takes an apparently simple disagreement between three longtime friends and turns it into a sharp, funny and surprisingly revealing exploration of friendship, loyalty, identity and personal taste.
The trouble starts when Serge buys an expensive contemporary artwork consisting entirely of white lines on a white canvas. His friend Marc is appalled. Their mutual friend Yvan finds himself caught between them.
What follows is far more than an argument about art.
As the three friends — who have known each other for 15 years — battle over the painting, old tensions and insecurities begin to surface. What starts with “How can you possibly like that?” quickly becomes a hilarious examination of just how well we really know the people closest to us.
This South African production brings together a celebrated creative team. It is directed and designed by Marthinus Basson, one of the country’s most acclaimed theatre-makers, with award-winning performances by Wilhelm van der Walt, Wessel Pretorius and Ludwig Binge.
The production follows the success of the Afrikaans adaptation, KUNS, which debuted at the Klein Karoo National Arts Festival in 2025 before continuing to the Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees. The production received nine Kanna Award nominations and won five, including Best Theatre Production and Best Ensemble.
Now Cape Town audiences have the opportunity to experience Reza’s celebrated play in Hampton’s renowned English translation, performed by the same acclaimed trio.
Expect fast-paced comedy, razor-sharp dialogue and plenty to think about once the laughter dies down.
As director Marthinus Basson puts it, “ART, by Yasmina Reza is as close to a perfect play as one can hope for.”
Ultimately, the painting may be white, but there is nothing blank about what it reveals.
The question is: how well do you really know your friends?
Event Details
What: ART by Yasmina Reza
Where: The Baxter Flipside Theatre, Cape Town
When: 1–12 September 2026
Time: 7.30pm, with Saturday matinees at 3pm
Tickets: Available through Webtickets and The Baxter Theatre Centre Box Office.
