![]() ![]() This works well in emphasising their respective investments she needs the painting to be genuine, whereas he needs his decision to be right. Most notably, when the painting is revealed in all of it gargantuan glory, propped up against a kitchen chair, we are left to sit in the silence of almost three minutes as Lionel runs his expert aesthetic eye over it and Maude anticipates his decision. ![]() Valid-seeming as Maude’s explanation of her conviction that it is, indeed, a Jackson Pollack, may be, despite it being unsigned and of unknown ownership history, the most engaging part of the play’s experience is the interplay between the two polar-opposite characters as Maude’s lack of social polish eventually softens Lionel’s determination to maintain professional conduct.ĭirector Jennifer Flowers makes some bold choices to put us right in the experience with these characters, beyond just playing the story out in real time. The painting makes an appearance within the first 30 minutes of the 90-minute two hander, meaning that although it serves as catalyst, the play is about so much more than just question around its authenticity. Forgeries are his specialty, but perhaps it is easier to say something is fake than it is to prove it is real. When the eminent New York art critic arrives as consultant on the case, he comes with seemingly undeniable calibre and experience, including at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and, thus, a determination to deny to the painting’s authenticity. You see, amongst Maude’s $3 junk shop finds is a painting that she is convinced is that work of American abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock, potentially, therefore, worth between $50 – $100 million. As the ex-bartender enters, filling the space of her ‘nothing fancy’ trailer park abode with swath of swear words and desperation to be thrown a blessing in life, she is driven by the anticipation of her life potentially changing in the space of 30 seconds. From the moment we enter the Ad Astra theatre for Stephen Sachs “Bakersfield Mist”, we can tell a lot about Maude Gutman (Fiona Kennedy) by the detail of her kitchen and living room space, which is cluttered with tchotchke type gaud and beer bottle chimes, shot glasses and alike bric-a-brac collected from what others have discarded. “When you walk into a house it only takes two seconds to make an impression,” sophisticated world-class art expert Lionel Percy (Steven Grives) claims in justification of his knowing-without-thinking ‘blink’ intuitive assessment of a work’s merit. ![]()
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