The art of friendship is the theme of this week's play at the New Theatre - Yasmina Reza's celebrated 'Art'. This three-hander has almost constantly done the rounds, with different casts, since it opened in the UK in the mid 1990s. This time, actor and director Simon Shepherd is joined by Russell Boulter and Michael Garner as the three friends who find the ties that bind unwind when Serge (Shepherd) buys a piece of modern art for a whopping amount of money. Marc (Boulter) can't believe that a friend of his could genuinely think this utterly white canvas is a veritable work of art. Conciliatory Ivan (Garner) tries to see it both ways. It's all about to get personal.

The dazzling dialogue and incisive insights into the dynamics of friendship, loyalty and love fizz throughout Reza's script (translated from the French by Christopher Hampton). It's literate, laugh-out loud funny and everyone will recognise something of themselves in each of the three men. A stark, simple set triples as each man's flat with lighting and a different work of art marking out each home and character. There's no interval, just 90 minutes of intense, funny and poignant verbal joustings. Shepherd's Serge is upright, debonair and prickly as he tries to justify his cultural excursion. Boulter is terrific as the witty but bullish Marc, whose crusade to redeem his friend leads into a spiral of plain-speaking and painful truth-telling. And Garner is a genuine scene-stealer, his neurotic, malleable Ivan trying to keep head-above water and his friends together while facing his own crisis - marriage to a strong-willed woman. Ivan's breathless, runaway train of a speech, mid-play, as he recounts a conversation with mother and wife is a comic showstopper. And who would have thought that a scene where three grown men simply eat olives could be so profound and so funny.

The New Theatre is not the ideal venue for a three-hander but the cast speak clearly and loudly enough. The minimalist music that punctuates the dialogue at key points may, though, drown out the voices for those at the back. And maybe a few folk won't like the f***s and s**** that get thrown around. But it won't spoil the evening - for this is a gem of a play, played for all it's worth by three actors giving it their all. You side with each of them at some point - which just goes to show that there's nowt so funny as folk. Not even modern art. And this is a play for those who like modern art, as well as those who don't. You certainly won't see yourself or your friends and relations in quite the same way again. And isn't that what art is all about?

Oxford is the end of this production's current run. Treat yourself and catch it while you can.

Glenn Watson 18.07.05