I’ve been reading – a little ruefully, I admit – a lot of newspaper columns of late about the crisis in male friendship. Seems we’re in the grip of a “Friendship Recession”, in which middle-aged men are finding themselves increasingly isolated, more and more often alone.

After sitting down with Art, Yasmina Reza’s star-magnet, all-male three-hander, I find myself oddly OK with that. With friends like these … who needs friends?

Damon Herriman, Toby Schmitz and Richard Roxburgh in Art. Photo © Brett Boardman

Art is essentially a comedy of manners between longtime friends, sparked when one of them – wealthy dermatologist Serge – invites his pal Marc to view his latest acquisition: an all-white painting by a celebrated Minimalist. Marc, very much into the classics, can’t help but burst into derisive laughter. 160,000 euros? For a piece of “shit”?

Serge is stung. Marc cannot back down. They draw another friend, the hapless Yvan, into the spat, each hoping he will take their side. But Yvan, about to be married and wilting in a new job he hates, has more pressing worries.

Art has always been a star vehicle, and this production,...