About the Play:

Picasso at the Lapin Agile has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Female Monologues and Female/Male Scenes.

Picasso at the Lapin Agile is a full-length comedy by Steve Martin. Einstein and Picasso walk into a bar. Sounds like an opening of a classic joke… In the hands of comic-genius-turned-playwright Steve Martin it becomes so much more: an exploration of probability, lust, artistic integrity, and the future of the world. What next? Believe it or not, the play has that answer too!

Picasso at the Lapin Agile imagines a meeting between a 23-year-old Pablo Picasso and a 25-year-old Albert Einstein at a real-life artists' hangout in Paris at the dawn of the 20th Century. It's 1904 and Le Lapin Agile (the Nimble Rabbit) welcomes a confident Albert Einstein and a brash Pablo Picasso for one extraordinary night, just before the renowned scientist transformed physics with his theory of relativity and the celebrated painter dazzled the art world with cubism. Comedian, film star and playwright Steve Martin presents an imaginative and funny account of what these two geniuses discuss on the fateful evening. Bystanders, including Picasso's opinionated art dealer, the bartender and his mistress, Picasso's date, an aging barfly, and a self-deluded inventor named Charles Dabernow Schmendiman introduce additional flourishes of humour. The final surprise patron to join the merriment is a charismatic dark-haired rock and roll superstar (with a penchant for blue suede shoes) time warped in from a later era. Known for his extensive comedy career on television and in film, Picasso at the Lapin Agile is Steve Martin's first original play. This is the 2017 revised version of the script and is the only version that is approved for performance.

Picasso at the Lapin Agile premiered in 1993 at Chicago's prestigious Steppenwolf Theatre. Following rave reviews and extended runs in Chicago, the play was presented successfully in Boston and Los Angeles (where it was the longest-running show in the history of the Westwood Playhouse, now known as the Geffen Playhouse) and played off Broadway in New York at the Promenade Theatre to critical and audience acclaim. It won New York's 1996 Outer Critics Circle Awards for best play and best writer. The play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and has become a popular choice for school and community theatre productions.

Cast: 2 female, 7 male

What people say:

"[Picasso at the Lapin Agile] a very engaging 75-minute shaggy dog of a comedy ... Steve Martin has also created a number of moment of real humor and wit.... His manner is to so mix the sublime with the ridiculous that they can't be easily disentangled." — The New York Times

"Highly credible and ... very funny. The subject matter is daring ... You get giggles in plenty [and] moments of enlightenment ... The introduction of the final, exquisitely selected visitor from the future is a master stroke." — New York Post

"More laughs, more fun and more delight than anything currently on the New York stage." — New York Observer

"Picasso at the Lapin Agile is an adorable, incisive, thoughtful script, particularly for those who love watching Martin's ideas corkscrew wildly into the truth." — Backstage

About the Playwright:

Steve Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer. Since the 1980s, having branched away from stand-up comedy, he has become a successful actor, immensely talented playwright and screenwriter as well as banjo player eventually earning Emmy, Grammy, and American Comedy awards. His writing credits include the plays Picasso at the Lapin Agile and W.A.S.P. which both played Off-Broadway; and the screenplays for Shopgirl, The Pink Panther, Bowfinger, L.A. Story and Roxanne, among others.