Everyone’s a critic. Especially your friends.
Opening at Her Majesty’s Theatre this Wednesday, Richard Roxburgh (Rake, The Correspondent, Elvis), Damon Herriman (Better Man, The Tourist, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) and Toby Schmitz (Boy Swallows Universe, Gaslight, Grief is the Thing with Feathers) star together in the internationally award-winning play ART by Yasmina Reza. A razor-sharp comedy about friendship, ego and the chaos a single opinion can cause.
Toby Schmitz is an accomplished writer, director and actor renowned for his versatile performances across theatre, television and film. Toby co-created and starred in Hamlet Camp (Modern Convict Films), which returned to Sydney after a sell-out world premiere season. He also received glowing reviews for his performance in Belvoir’s production of Grief is the Thing with Feathers, which he adapted for the stage alongside Simon Phillips and Nick Schlieper.
Toby spoke to Glam Adelaide about ART and his writing, as well as what led him to the performing arts as a career path.
“I once heard Cate Blanchett call it a calling rather than a decision and that feels right to me. I don’t really remember a time when I wasn’t attracted to it. I was that kid that always wanted to be in the school play, and I was performing around the dinner table. I think that there are different kinds of artists and actors and there are always different reasons: introverts and extroverts. I think I actually tend to be more introverted, but I think acting is about hiding in the light. That’s the best way I can put it. There’s something worthwhile and sort of morally correct about telling stories to further the human race. I like slipping into different characters in order to not be me. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of getting a laugh or moving people through my craft.”
As well as being an accomplished actor, Toby has written several plays, including Lucky, Chicks Will Dig You!, Dreamalittledreamalittle, and Pan.
Toby shared with Glam Adelaide his writing secrets and how he has developed his writing format over time.
“It’s developed over time, but it originally started with writing something I would either want to be in or to read, and that remains the core motivation to get off my bum and write. Mostly I’ve written plays, and really it started by going, ‘Well, let’s put something on that I can be in, or direct for my mates.’ This started at school. I would write some rip-off Monty Python sketch comedy and put it on at lunchtime. So it’s kind of a carrot in front of the donkey scenario.
“In terms of the writing structure and the discipline of it, (which I find insanely harder than acting) I need a beginning and a middle and an end before I can write anything. I know wonderful writers who are capable of just starting out and writing themselves in a story and making it up as they go along. But I can’t really start without a beginning, a middle, and an end. It often changes, but I need a little bit of structure. I think what I’ve learned over the years is I don’t open up the laptop until the very last moment. I have notes written on beer coasters and in Moleskins and on the back of receipts. It’s not until I’ve got a real sort of fat file of ideas that I put it all into my laptop. I once had a great writing teacher who said, ‘A good story is not a good idea. A good story is two or more good ideas.’”
State Theatre Company South Australia presents ART as part of their 2026 season. It follows the story of a man buying a ridiculously expensive painting, and his friends don’t just question his taste — they question everything. Egos flare, old wounds resurface, and a decades-long friendship begins to fracture.
Winner of both the Tony Award for Best Play and the Olivier Award for Best Comedy, ART explores – with biting wit and perfect timing – how the smallest things, especially the unspoken ones, can spiral into something much bigger.
We asked Toby what it is about the play that drew him to it.
“I first read it at drama school in the mid-’90s when it came out. I remember getting a beaten-up sort of a photocopied copy of it. I remember first reading it and going, ‘Oh my God, this is so delicious’. It is just so funny. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve read a play and laughed out loud. I was drawn to it back then. I feel so lucky that I now get to perform it. The audience reactions, the rolling waves of laughter, the sort of the tightness, the neatness of it, the pathos that’s in it – it’s just a well-crafted piece of theatre.”
ART will play at Her Majesty’s Theatre this week for 8 performances only between 20th and 24th of May.
“We cannot wait for Adelaide audiences to experience what has been happening in Sydney and Brisbane and Melbourne. It’s a real dopamine hit. It’s laugh-out-loud funny, and it’s great to be able to get that reaction from every audience. Being able to perform in Her Majesty’s Theatre is also a real treat.”
This 90-minute modern classic is full to the brim of intelligent laughs, standout performances, and sharp insight, as well as asking: can we truly see and still forgive the people we’ve known the longest? Because everyone’s a critic. Especially your friends.
With biting wit and perfect timing, ART explores how the smallest things, especially the unspoken ones, can spiral into something much bigger.
ART
Her Majesty’s Theatre
May 20 – 24, 2026
https://statetheatrecompany.com.au/shows/art/
Photo credit: Brett Boardman
