IF YOU don’t know much about art but know what you like, as the saying goes, then you will have some sympathy for the protagonists of this multi-award-winning play who struggle to appreciate the finer points of a piece of creative activity.

The trouble is that the artwork in question is an all-white painting (with some white line) which sparks an ongoing debate about art which soon transmogrifies into a lengthier parley about the very merits of existence itself.

It is good to see ART back on the road for this autumn tour with Lighthouse selected for the opening nights of the latest production of French playwright Yasmina Reza’s look at art, love and friendship, which is directed by impressive National Theatre and RCS helmsman Iqbal Khan.

Beginning life as a French language play in 1994, ART originally ran for nine years in London’s West End and has since travelled the globe, picking up Best New Comedy Olivier, Tony and Moliere Awards.

Seemingly anyone and everyone has since played a role in this three-hander, from Albert Finney, Tom Courtenay and Ken Stott to Nigel Havers, Mark Gatiss and Roger Allam.

This production stars hilarious but somewhat controversial (mais, un petit peu) comedian Seann Walsh, alongside Chris Harper (best known for Call the Midwife, Coronation Street) and Aden Gillett (The Crown, The House of Elliot).

There is certainly no flab or filler in this attention-holding play which clocks in at a taut 90 minutes (no interval), because we have a playwright able to write to the perfect length with no unnecessary words, no wasted expressions and no distracting side plots.

That said, it is also particularly wordy and it’s a tribute to the players that there were few stumbles on just the second night.

The action, such as it is, takes place in Paris where Serge (Harper) buys the expensive painting, Marc (Gillett) thinks it’s a terrible waste of money and Yvan (Walsh) is somehow stuck in the middle of the ongoing disagreement.

It all happens on a perfectly proportioned round stage, mostly portraying Serge’s home, where the three old friends are gathering, ostensibly to go out for the evening, before the night degenerates into rancour.

Thus, it’s not really about art at all but rather about complications contained within long-standing friendships, how disagreements turn from acorns to oak trees in an instant and how relationships can be spoiled by wars of attrition.

It is by turn funny, tragic and thought-provoking, with regular asides to the audience an entertaining distraction. All three players combine well, but Walsh gets the biggest acclaim for monologues on his lateness and forthcoming wedding.

All excellent stuff and, as Del Boy might say, it was the crème de la menthe.