The Daily Cardinal
\The Credeaux Canvas,"" written by Keith Bunin and directed by Kate Buckley, features an interesting plot with satisfying performances, but in the end falls short of a true theatrical masterpiece.
The plot centers around three friends, Jaime (Hans Fleischmann), Amelia (Michelle Hensley) and Winston (Brad Eric Johnson), who all happen to be ""starving artists"" living in New York and are presented with the perfect opportunity to make a large sum of money. Jaime's father, who has recently passed away, was an upscale art dealer whose clients included many of society's upper crust.
Jamie bumps into a wealthy socialite, Tess (Morgan McCabe), who informs him of her interest in buying a painting by John Paul Credeaux, an obscure French painter. Upon hearing this, Jamie is convinced that he can pass off a fake Credeaux to this unsuspecting woman.
In order to pull this plan off, Jamie convinces Winston, an introverted painter who is very knowledgeable of Credeaux's work and a perfect imitator, to recreate one of Credeaux's nude portraits. Once Jamie and Winston decide that they are going to remake the portrait, the question becomes, ""Who can they trust to pose for the painting?""
The answer is obvious: Amelia, Jamie's girlfriend. After some hassling and nagging by Winston and Jamie, Amelia agrees to pose for the painting. Inherent in Amelia posing nude for the painting is a 20-minute scene where Hensely, and later Johnson, are actually nude on stage. This seems like a rather risqu?? scene to include in a play, but Bunin is careful in his scripting to ensure that ""the actor isn't uncomfortable, the character is."" The scene is portrayed naturally, and after a few minutes the nudity is an almost unnoticeable detail.
The hope is that Amelia will pose for the painting and Winston will paint it in perfect Credeaux style. Jamie will then sell it to naive Tess, and the three will split the money living perfectly happy lives from that day on.
This is not how the play turns out. The plot features certain clich??d but propelling twists. The actors who propagate these twists, each portraying very distinct, melodramatic, eccentric characters, are well chosen. Fleischmann, Hensely and Johnson accurately portray emotionally turbulent, insecure and closed-off characters. With these very emotionally unstable characters, the plot is very dramatic or rather manic-depressive.
Bunin wrote the play when he was 29 and wanted to capture, ""the enormous excitement and desperation of being out of college and living in New York."" The manic-depressive feel of the play certainly embodies the mood that Bunin wants to convey, yet it almost seems overdone, blown out of proportion. This is especially clear when audience members walk out of the play feeling unmoved.
