An infectious play by Sleth, titled The Wreck of the Unbelievable, explores the infatuation and fame through an imagined relationship between the renowned artist Damien Hirst and a younger, gay artist called Shape. The play takes on a fantastical premise, where Hirst is dead, leaving behind a gay lover, who greets theatre-goers sprawled, ass up, on a disheveled mattress reminiscent of Tracey Emin's 'My Bed' (1998).

Despite the clear indication that Hirst is very much alive and straight, the idea creates a strange wormhole into the nature of infatuation and the costs of being an artist who craves fame and fortune. The off-off-Broadway production runs over 80 minutes, though it could easily be tightened by about 15 minutes. The plot focuses on the friend of the seemingly hungover artist, Mara, who is an assistant curator at the Guggenheim Museum, and her need to extract some seedy details of this secret affair for a rushed Hirst retrospective she is organizing. Shape is hardly impressed and jokes that it's not the Whitney Museum or MoMA.

The set design and direction are tight, with some poetic moments, like when Shape and Mara revisit their bohemian yesteryears. A puff of smoke lingers above the performers like a Surrealist flourish to denote memory. In another flash, UV light floods the stage to reveal an eerie scene reminiscent of Sandy Skoglund's haunting photographs.

The play, if uneven, raises interesting questions about the nature of infatuation in the art world and how it is often dramatized for public consumption. It is a strange and engaging piece that explores the boundaries between reality and fantasy in the art world.