Shane Dundas is no stranger to the stage.
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But as one half of the Umbilical Brothers, audiences haven't seen him quite like this before. In fact, according to the actor, the last time he was in a scripted performance such as this, he was in acting school.
Dundas joins Christopher Carroll and Craig Alexander in Art, the Yasmina Reza play that opens at The Street next month. The Tony Award-winning comedy by the leading French playwright paints a satirical portrait of male friendships. And since the English translation was done by Christopher Hampton (who is known for his work on Dangerous Liaisons) in 1996, it has been a runaway success.
It was also not long after this time that Dundas first came into contact with Art. He's not sure if it was in New York or London - such is the life of an international comedy sensation who travels around the world - but there was something about the energy of the work that Dundas loved.
"We'd been travelling around and I can't remember where we saw it but it had famous actors in it, and it was real snappy and really impressive," he says.
"Of course, I had no idea that I'd be in this incredibly scary position of having to perform it years later.
"You need a challenge, and I need a challenge. And that's what this is for me. This is a challenge. I've been doing what I do for 30 years. So you think this would be water off a duck's back for me. I've been on stages everywhere but no - this is quite a scary challenge."
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As the name suggests, the work revolves around a piece of art. Or, to be more specific, it revolves around three friends and their differing opinions on said artwork.
Each considers themselves to be an art aficionado and up until this point also considered their friends to be as well. But when these clashing differing opinions come up, will that affect the friendship?
"If you transpose this to American say, you've had a friend for 15 years, and you realise they vote for Trump, and you don't. You're friends but should you steer clear of politics? And that is here, transposed to art," Dundas says.
"These guys have very different views on art and they take them seriously. And they think those views reflect them as people. Then when you dig into that, you've dug yourself a hole, and your friend is in the other hole. What are you going to do? Can you dig a tunnel?
"I'm getting crazily into the metaphors here, but I think all of this is delivered within a Seinfeld style. That's what I've noticed about the dialogue and the back and forth."
The production is also the first mainstage production direction for Shelley Higgs.
Both the production and the directorial debut have been a long time coming. The Street has wanted to bring the contemporary classic to the stage for a long time, and Higgs has been with the theatre company for so long that it almost feels like she should have directed by now.
But what Higgs brings to this production, in particular, is the ability to look at male-centred friendships through a female lens.
"It's been very interesting for me talking to the actors because I have to stop every once in a while and go 'Is this what it's actually like? Is this what your relationships with other men in your life are like? Because it is not necessarily something I relate to within my own friendships," she says.
"However, having said that, unpicking it with the actors, we got to this point where I could see it when I zoomed out the focus a little bit. I could see it more universally in like my relationships with siblings.
"So that made a little bit more sense for me because it's like when you've known someone so long that you know all the buttons to push."
Art shows at The Street from September 6 to 11. As well as the standard performance the theatre is hosting a special La langue de Molière: Reza's Art event on September 9.
This is a chance for Canberrans to hear the author's words as originally penned in selected extracts from Art read in French, presented in a collaboration with Alliance Francaise de Canberra and the ANU School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics.
September 10 also sees Taste for Art: Why Collect? The light discussion dives into the appeal of art and collecting and features independent art historian and curator Deborah Clark and Contour 556 co-founders and collectors Karina Harris and Neil Hobbs.
In another free pre-show event before the Sunday matinee and final performance of the season on September 11, you can also meet the makers in a conversation between The Street's artistic director and chief executive Caroline Stacey, director Shelly Higgs, and designers Imogen Keen, Kimmo Vennonen and Gerry Corcoran.
For tickets go to thestreet.org.au.
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