Who is best equipped to authenticate a work of art – Lionel Percy (John Wood), the former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York or former Bakersfield barmaid, Maude Gutman (Julie Nihill) who fervently believes that a painting she bought for $3 is nothing less than an original work by abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock?

This question gives rise to the central contention in Stephen Sachs's Bakersfield Mist. In his short play, Sachs has ingeniously interwoven argument and debate between the celebrated expert and the uneducated and unqualified owner of the painting. Percy arrives at Gutman's trailer to authenticate or repudiate her application to have the painting validated.

Percy's experience and expertise instantly dispels any claim to authenticity. Gutman's instinctive conviction that she is the owner of a genuine Pollock worth between $50-$100 million vehemently denies Percy's assessment.

What emerges is an apparent impasse and class conflict between the self-opinionated connoisseur and the resolute and obstinate believer. Argument verges on cliché, deftly avoided by a revelation of Percy's feelings of inadequacy in a brilliantly delivered spiritual adulation of art by Wood and Nihill's moving performance of a woman oppressed and disadvantaged by class and circumstance. Gradually both characters are compelled to confront a shared humanity that transcends contrasting experience and confront their own demons.

Sachs's two-hander relies on the casting of the two characters to succeed. Director Lucy Freeman is fortunate in securing two of Australia's most experienced actors to play the contrasting roles. Wood plays the art expert with carefully measured authority and a touch of pomposity, Nihill's Maude inhabits a rough-hewn character with conviction, letting expletives slip easily from the lips.

Surrounded by the junk shop paraphernalia of Jill Munro's colourful and eclectic trailer design, Nihill's Maude conceals an inner pain with steely will and a bottle of booze. It is a pleasure to see two consummate actors at such ease with their craft under Freeman's carefully staged direction.

Art lovers, curators and art professionals will delight in this production from the Tasmanian Theatre Company and Straightjacket Productions. Bakersfield Mist is more than just great entertainment. It is an interesting and informative insight into the art world and the life and work of an artist who changed the way the world viewed modern art. Antique Roadshow meets Fake or Fortune? in Bakersfield Mist with twists to make you think. What makes good art? That is for you to decide. Highly recommended.