“My Name Is Pablo Picasso” at Fringe.

My Name is Pablo Picasso technically has a twist, but it’s so standard and obvious that you may guess it from this review alone. A mysterious old fortune teller appears at the studio of young Picasso (before his success, just after the disastrous debut of Les Demoiselles d’Avignon) and tells him, with a historical level of accuracy and intimate detail, about his future. The twist isn’t the selling point; the engaging debate that ensues is.

Young Picasso (Arden Moscati) is cohabiting with Fernande Olivier (Julia Albertson) at this time, and it is the conflict between young Picasso and Fernande as they fight over the old man’s vision of their future that drives the play. Mary Gage’s script takes this opportunity to examine Picasso’s life and art from both ends (explicitly describing itself as a Cubist portrait of the man), touching on the desire for wealth vs. the experience of wealth, the uncertainty of artistic ambition vs. the comfort of artistic achievement, the optimism of first love vs. the cynicism of a life of lost love, and so forth.

Ultimately, the play is something of an overview; Picasso — and Fernande — were extremely complex people, and this 80-minute snapshot barely delves into the depths, with Fernande getting the shortest shrift. It’s forgivable for the play to recognize how cruelly Picasso treats Fernande (and women in general), but not so forgivable that it doesn’t give her character much more to do in the end but bemoan her state.

Qualms aside, the whole thing is surprisingly entertaining and thought-provoking, particularly thanks to the consummately believable and funny performance of Michael Bernosky as the old man, worth the price of admission in itself.

My Name is Pablo Picasso has 4 remaining performances, listed here. Tickets are available online.