Review: ART at QPAC is a Masterclass in Theatrical Chemistry
The Playhouse theatre at QPAC was charged with a rare kind of electricity on opening night as three of Australia’s finest actors—Richard Roxburgh, Damon Herriman, and Toby Schmitz—took to a deceptively minimal stage to prove why Yasmina Reza’s ART remains an indestructible classic.
The €160,000 Catalyst
The play opens with a masterclass in restraint. Serge (Damon Herriman) has purchased a “white painting”—an Antrios—for the staggering sum of €160,000. Marc (Richard Roxburgh) is immediately, and hilariously, triggered. What follows is a sublime interplay of egos as Marc’s disgust meets Serge’s burgeoning pretension, fuelled further when Serge suggests Marc read Seneca to better understand his “pompous” new worldview.
The minimal stage design is precisely what is required here; it offers no distractions, forcing the audience to evaluate the maturity and fractures of a friendship that has evolved—and perhaps strained—over decades.
The “Succubus” and the Monologue
While Marc and Serge engage in ideological warfare, it is Toby Schmitz’s Yvan who provides the emotional glue—and much of the night’s most frantic comedy. Caught in the middle of his friends’ bickering while navigating the minefield of his own upcoming wedding, Yvan’s attempt to play the peacemaker backfires spectacularly. Marc’s “nuclear” reaction to Yvan’s defence of the painting—calling him a “succubus”—highlights the brazen, mentoring role he feels he must play in the group.
The standout moment of the night, as anticipated in our exclusive interview with Schmitz, was the legendary wedding-invitation monologue. Delivering a four-minute sequence in breathless waves, Schmitz left the audience in a state of rapturous exhaustion. This phenomenal sequence represents the pinnacle of a dialogue-driven performance.
A Mirror to Friendship
The brilliance of this production lies in its relatability. Through clever lighting and “spotlight” asides that draw the audience into the trio’s private thoughts, we see ourselves in these men.
- Marc is the brazen friend who fears being forgotten as his friends grow beyond his “mentoring”.
- Serge is the vulnerable “middle brother” who has finally found his voice, even if it’s through a blank canvas.
- Yvan is the frenetic, beautiful soul whose nature is often mistaken for weakness.
The Verdict
Clocking in at a brisk 90 minutes, ART flies by as layers are peeled back and brutal truths are spoken. It’s funny, heartwarming, and mesmerising. I highly recommend that you grab a ticket today for this delicious dichotomy of friendship and how our inner circle reflects our strengths and weaknesses back at us.
In Conversation with Toby Schmitz
There is a specific smell to a 1960s Signet Edition of Shakespeare. It’s the scent of cheap, disintegrating paper and the ink of Milton Glaser’s iconic cover illustrations. For actor, writer, and director Toby Schmitz, that smell is home. It was the beginning of a lifelong obsession with language that has led him from his father’s second-hand bookstore to the world’s greatest stages.
This week, Schmitz returns to Brisbane’s QPAC in the Tony and Olivier Award-winning comedy ART, starring alongside two other Australian heavyweights: Richard Roxburgh and Damon Herriman.
The Powerhouse Trio
The play, written by Yasmina Reza, is a razor-sharp 90-minute examination of ego and friendship triggered by a single, absurdly expensive purchase: a white painting.
While the “white painting” is the hook, the heart of the production lies in the chemistry of its leads. “The architecture is right there,” Schmitz says of the play. “When you wind up three talented tops and set them off in the pen of this play… it has a knock-on effect.” He describes the interplay as a constant game of shifting status—one person stands, another must crouch.
The Man in the Middle
Schmitz plays Yvan, the frantic, peace-seeking middleman caught between the ideological warring of his two best friends.
Yvan is famous for a monumental, light-speed monologue about wedding-planning drama that Schmitz has been thinking about for decades. To keep the “magic trick” alive, he rehearses it constantly—in the shower, on the plane, and even, reportedly, in his sleep.
“I’ve become known as someone who can actually do a four-page monologue and not have the audience yawn,” he admits with a grin. “It is a bit of a party trick of mine.”
From Law School Revues to “The Empress Murders”
The “triple-threat” label—actor, writer, director—isn’t something Schmitz wears lightly; it’s baked into his DNA. He famously walked away from a law degree at the University of Western Australia after a sketch comedy show with his longtime friend Tim Minchin convinced him he wanted to “do this forever.”
That creative restlessness recently culminated in his debut novel, The Empress Murders. A project 20 years in the making, it’s a jazz-era mystery set on an ocean liner—a story so ambitious it “should have been a novel to start with.”
Why Brisbane?
As The Big Curious prepares for opening night tomorrow, Schmitz is quick to praise the local crowd. Having performed here since 2000, he considers himself an “honorary Queenslander”.
“This town turns out in droves, and they are so supportive of the arts,” he says. “I think doing a play here is one of the great gifts.”
Whether the white painting is a masterpiece or a joke remains up for debate, but one thing is certain: with this trio on stage, the performance itself is undeniable.
The Details
- Tickets: From $89 at arttheplay.com.au
- What: ART by Yasmina Reza
- Where: QPAC, Brisbane
- When: 11 March – 22 March 2026
Normally reserved for our members, here’s the in-depth interview with Toby.
The Full Portrait: Toby Schmitz on ‘ART’, Ambition, and the Alchemy of the Stage
To sit down with Toby Schmitz is to engage with a man who views the world through a literary lens. Whether he is discussing the “pulp fiction-y” smell of 1960s Shakespeare editions or the “industrialised carnage” of 20th-century history, Schmitz speaks with the precision of the writer he is and the energy of the actor we know.
In this exclusive extended feature for The Urbanite members, we go behind the scenes of his latest role in Yasmina Reza’s ART to explore the career of one of Australia’s most prolific “theatre rats”.
The Bookstore and the Bar
Long before he was headlining at QPAC, Schmitz was a child immersed in his father’s second-hand bookstore. He traces his love of language back to the Signet Editions of Shakespeare—flimsy, cheap paperbacks with Milton Glaser covers that he used to carry in his back pocket.
“I can smell them without even closing my eyes,” he says. “They were very important to me as a child, and they remain important to me now.”
That literary foundation almost led him to a career in law at the University of Western Australia, but the “theatre bug” intervened in the form of university revues. It was during an evening of sketch comedy emceed alongside a young Tim Minchin that Schmitz realised he wanted to do this forever.
“I invented a sort of lounge lizard character in a terrible suit… and I remember distinctly the audience reaction,” he recalls. “I definitely remember thinking, ‘I wanna do this forever.'”
The “Magic Trick” of Yvan
In ART, Schmitz plays Yvan, a character he has been thinking about for decades. Famous for a four-page monologue concerning wedding-planning stress, the role requires a level of discipline that Schmitz describes as a “party trick” born of serious hard work.
“I have not left that monologue alone. I did it this morning in the shower. I did it on the plane coming to Brisbane last night,” he says. But despite the repetition, the performance remains fluid. Schmitz notes that he is constantly reacting to the “spontaneous danger” of his co-stars, Richard Roxburgh and Damon Herriman.
“If Richard Roxburgh’s portrayal of Marc has been a bit spikier in the lead-up, then it’s going to affect me,” Schmitz explains. “It’s about listening and preparation.”
Ambition Without the Bitterness
Perhaps the most surprising revelation from our conversation was Schmitz’s take on professional competition. In an industry often defined by the “hustle”, Schmitz claims to have been born without a competitive gene.
“I just don’t have it,” he says candidly. “I find that bitterness or jealousy are such uncreative energies that I’ve managed to banish them from my life… I sleep the sleep of angels.”
This lack of traditional ego hasn’t slowed his output. From playing pirates in Black Sails to writing his debut novel, The Empress Murders—a project that took 20 years to transition from a play to a book—Schmitz remains driven by the work itself rather than the accolades.
The “Honorary” Local
As he prepares for opening night, Schmitz’s affection for Brisbane is clear. Having performed here since a David Williamson play in 2000, he describes the city’s audiences as uniquely generous.
“I’ve felt like an honorary Queenslander since I did my first professional play here,” he says. “This town turns out in droves, and they are so supportive of the arts.”
Member-Exclusive: The Quick-Fire Round
Oscar, Tony, or Bestseller? “Whichever pays my rent the most.”
Shakespeare or Stoppard? “It’s Shakespeare, and then there’s a big gap, and then it’s Stoppard.”
First draft? “Pen and paper, yeah.”
In one word, what is ART about? “Clues in the title.”
