THE CONTEST – at Central Works, Berkeley City Club
Three Renaissance geniuses duke it out
By Susan Dunn
In 1504 an aging Leonardo da Vinci competes with youngster Michelangelo for dominance in the Florentine Art World. Negotiating a career-emblazing commission with these luminaries is Florentine “fixer,” Niccolo Machiavelli, slickly played by Alan Coyne. He opens the play with the Florentine strategy for achieving excellence in art by signing competing artists to a commission. It ratchets up our interest that the artists are amusingly combative and insulting to each other. Christopher Herold, as Leonardo, struts an eye-popping wardrobe, grouches over everything from furniture to the recently unveiled and wildly popular Florentine statue of David, and pulls out his powerful negotiating guns to secure his best next deal. A rugged Nathaniel Andalis as Michelangelo appears variously in a wardrobe of work clothes or merely a towel and is professionally at the top of his game with his completion of the Pieta in the Vatican and the triumph of his David. His reputation in 1504 is for sculpture. These two are commissioned for large scale battle-scene painted murals for opposite walls in the Salone dei Cinquecento, part of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. Leonardo accepts after much brow beating and negotiating not just for himself, but for his 'staff' as well. Michelangelo accepts readily, with no terms discussed, and no significant painting portfolio in his career, but seemingly based on his deep-seated desire to compete against Leonardo. The Contest revolves around this dual project which was the only time Leonardo and Michelangelo worked together. And ironically the project was never completed by either of them.
The artists are amusingly insulting and combative.
The Contest is number three in playwright Gary Graves’s quintology of plays under the larger name The Prince. With the current opening, four of the plays have been produced at Central Works. In notes by the playwright,
“The Contest is a play about the conflict between Realism and Romanticism
in Art.... and the conflict between art and power in the state.”
As produced at the Berkeley City Club, with no set or scenery in what could be called a “white box” setting, it relies on the audience’s imagination to envision each scene. For starters, first we are high up in a Florentine apartment where Niccolo and Leonardo wrangle about the large wall painting commission. Next we are in a bath house where Michelangelo and Niccolo discuss the opposite wall commission as they sit naked in their towels. This transitions to the Great Hall where Leonardo confidently faces a blank white wall, which the Berkeley City Club has provided by covering their fireplace with, of course, a white wall. Leonardo describes in detail to Niccolo the battle scene he envisions that will cover the white wall.
Before us, a battle. Horses rearing up, galloping, raging. On the horse’s back,
a rider--horse and rider are as one--a monstrous centaur, half-man half-animal,
wild, bestial, a phantom of a man....
But we never get to see this sketch of his battle scene. The next scene transitions to Michelangelo, the great sculptor, catching up with Leonardo’s treatise on painting and color, and despairing of his huge battle scene to be. And later Leonardo gives a slide presentation of a castle we don’t care about with some of his iconic images thrown in for humor. Instead, the Leonardo scenes are enriched by his flashy and superb wardrobe, a tribute to costumer Tammy Berlin. Although the actors are not dressed in period attire, their costumes do call out their function, as in the administrative business suit of Machiavelli, and the work clothes of Michelangelo. For Leonardo, his distinctive clothes reflect his aura and persona.
Playwright Graves shows us Leonardo’s scientific realism in his approach to his various works, be they sculpture or painting, while Michelangelo is the romantic who approaches art from inner inspiration. The verbal richness of The Contest script, (with perhaps too many expletives), helps to anchor the action, and the superb acting keeps us focused. But at the same time it is a challenge to keep up with the varied visual locales, and the art which is so often the center of the scenes. Why can’t we see Leonardo’s great horse? Why can’t we see the David? Why can’t we see the Cartoon sketches? More projections would add nuance and perspective to the viewer. The Contest is an intellectual ride through obscure history with many famous artist and political references that us liberal arts majors may grasp. But without visuals to adorn two of the world’s most famous artists and follow their obscure story, we may lose the thread.
Production | THE CONTEST |
Play By | Gary Graves |
Directed by | Gary Graves |
Producing Company | Central Works |
Production Dates | Oct 19 – Nov 17, 2024 |
Venue | Berkeley City Club |
Production Address | 2315 Durant Avenue, Berkeley 94704 |
https:// | |
Telephone | (510) 558-1381) |
Tickets | |
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