The Portrait

Simon Vance delivers a one-man bravura performance as a troubled, brilliant painter intent on righting the imagined and real wrongs of his career. To that end, the painter alternately menaces and charms an art critic who is sitting for his portrait--a critic whom he may hold responsible for ruining his career. Vance reads the narrative in a rich, well-modulated voice with superb enunciation and timing. He holds the listener throughout, not always easy to do when a book--even a good book--mostly consists of one character's monologue. A.C.S. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine