Arty Facts

Have you ever wondered what the subjects in your favourite portraits are thinking? Arty Facts, presented by Much Productions for FringeWorld, is a little show that attempt to answer that question, as we meet the people in the pictures, in a series of comedic vignettes.

Playing well in the intimate space of After Dark, three performers don a variety of quick costumes - and are usually instantly recognisable as the artwork. 

Meredith Hunter is convincing as both “real housewife” Mona Lisa, and the mature Whistler’s Mother, who is worried about the lack of colour in her portrait. Rachael M is lovely as a teen suspicious of Vermeer’s motives, as the Girl With the Pearl Earring and a Moulin Rouge dancer painted by Toulouse Lautrec. Jarrod Buttery is picture perfect as Shakespeare and the Laughing Cavalier, but funniest as a teenage surfer boy recruited to model as the statue David.

More of the world’s most famous portraits are explored, accompanied by some lively audio-visuals, well managed by director Jane Sherwood.

A must-see for art lovers, Arty Facts is a fun hour of theatre that leaves everyone smiling.

Kimberley Shaw