Nude With Violin lights up the art world

                                                                                                                            Feb 19, 2010
Carolee Nicely For The Times

  Despite the competition of the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games and an Alberni Valley Bulldogs game, the opening night of Nude With Violin still had a mostly full audience. There wasn't any nudity and there certainly weren't any violins but this production of Nude With Violin is a laugh out loud, family-friendly comedy with many twists being added throughout the various scenes.

 The Portal Players rendition of Nude With Violin was one of wit and satire, with a fabulous cast of both regulars and newcomers. Amongst the zany cast were: Terry Switzer as Sebastien, with an incredible array of languages including English, Spanish, French, German, Russian and Mandarin, Randi Levasseur as Pamela Sorodin, a snooty art depreciator, James Brook as Clint, a flippant journalist, and Mary Ellen Shimell as Cherry-May, a flamboyant Southern belle.

 Nude With Violin is Noel Coward's satire on Modern Art, the art world in general, and the value placed on art. The main issue that this play tackles is, what is art, and what makes it valuable?

 The original play was first performed in 1956 with Noel Coward as Sebastien. In its first year of production, it was successful and ran for more than a year, however, it failed to attain the popularity of Coward's pre-war hits and has seldom been revived.

 Crowd favourites included Christopher Bernard as a singing Eleventh Hour Immersionist priest, Debra Hamilton as a rambunctious Russian princess, the unveiling of the painting entitled "Nude With Violin," and the ever talented Switzer as the multilingual valet often received an uproar of laughter from the audience.


 The set was a simplistic but vibrant art studio in Paris, mixing together elements of fantasy and reality, a perfect backdrop for "squabbles over art and money," designed by Chris Doman.

 Kudos to the production team, directors, fabulous actors and last- but certainly not least- everybody behind the scenes for putting on a hilarious show.

 Nude With Violin is a fantastic play, full of pleasant surprises and quirky humour. It may not enlighten you on the nature of art, but it will certainly make you laugh and bring a smile to your face.