“Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.”
~ Oscar Wilde
The Louvre, Uffizi, and Hermitage may dazzle you with their emphasis on fine arts, the British Museum may educate you with its historical range, but the Metropolitan Museum of Art does it all; it is undoubtedly the Eighth Wonder of the World, at least for art and history lovers. It is physically impossible to see it all in one day because it houses over 1.5 million works of art, spanning 5,000 years of human history. One minute you’re admiring Van Gogh’s Cypresses, the next you’re wondering inside the Egyptian Temple of Dendur or sitting in the Chinese Garden Court. I often fantasized, during my frequent visits, of being a guard there. Then, in 2022, Patrick Bringley published All the Beauty in the World, a memoir about his ten years working as a MET guard, and I just had a chance to see the staged adaptation of it at the DR2 Theatre, starring the author, gracefully directed by Dominic Dromgoole.
I was very curious; acting demands a precise skill, presence, and timing. From my experience, authors often think they know exactly how their writing should be performed but executing that in front of an audience is an entirely different challenge. From the beginning, Bringley took the stage not as an actor playing himself but as a narrator of his own journey. The naked set featured three monitors where we saw details of different masterpieces, defined by gold wooden frames similar to the ones used in fine art museums, and three benches, a minimal yet expressive scenic design by Dromgoole. The evocative lighting from Abigail Hoke-Brady, and subtle projections by Austin Switser, referenced the artworks, spaces, and emotions that our protagonist reflected upon.
Despite its intimidating size and encyclopedic sprawl, The Met is weirdly comforting and Bringley told us that he sought solace there after the untimely death of his brother Tom. Not in the entrance and grand staircase, where hordes of tourists fumble with maps and pose for their social accounts, but in the majestic silent halls, watching over masterpieces and us, the visitors. Pacing or leaning against the wall with his “hands together, fleshy part at the tailbone. Legs out about thirty degrees. Ankles crossed.” He even showed us how to achieve the perfect museum guard’s pose.
In a culture conditioned to rush past pain, his deeply human invitation to pay attention to consciousness, to the place in our minds where perception and presence become critical to meaning-making, felt heartbreakingly sincere. Bringley’s quiet prose, when he talked about his loss, was moving but never dramatized in conventional theatrical terms, the whole script is unexpectedly funny and filled with intimate observations.
I also learned fascinating facts about the Masters. When Titian’s Portrait of a Young Man was projected, Bringley told us that ”Titian built this face using layer after layer of slow-drying semitransparent glazes through which lights streams, reflects, and meets our eyes with a constant freshness.” The hidden poetry of standing still to listen to art, learn from it, and let it change us was the work’s main theme.
In his journey, Bringley met interesting guards and ignorant tourists who made hilarious comments like “Goddammit, I’m in the Jesus Pictures again!” when lost or “So all this broken stuff, it broke in here?” when looking at ancient statues missing limbs. The best one was “Do you guys have any Mona Lisas?,” it made the whole room erupt in laughter. Sound design by Caleb Garner gently enhanced the atmosphere with gongs that separated anecdotes and time.
All the Beauty in the World is not a normal play but a nuanced exploration of grief, a manual on observation, and proof of the transformative power of art in our quotidian. It’s about what happens when you stop chasing life and start noticing it instead, certainly worth seeing.
photos by Joan Marcus
All the Beauty in the World
DR2 Theatre, 103 East 15th Street, off Union Square
Tues-Thurs at 7; Fri & Sat at 8; Wed, Sat and Sun at 2
ends on May 25, 2025
for tickets (beginning at $45), call 212.239.6200 or visit All the Beauty
