Available to watch for free on the 'The Shows Must Go On' Youtube channel for 48 hours only. The production is a filmed live performance which took place at London's Wyndham's Theatre.
Red is a drama based on an epsidode of the later life of Mark Rothko. Rothko was born in 1903 in Latvia (the then USSR) of Jewish parents and as a boy fled to the US with his parents settling in Portland, Oregon. Establishing himself as an Abstract Artist, Rothko moved to New York in his later life before committing suicide at the age of 67 in 1970. Here, we are in his New York studio and the play starts in 1958 and ends in 1960. At this period in his painting he had rejected most colours and favoured reds: bold oblongs or stripes of one red on a bed of usually a much deeper red. Rothko had accepted a commission to paint several large murals for the new restaurant in the Seagrams Building; an important and high profile commission which he accepted and started work on. However, as we will see, by the end of the play he gives the money back and refuses to allow his works to hang there. All of this is fact. What this play does however is introduce a second character, the fictional Ken, who is a young artist eagre to learn and is taken on by Rothko as his assistant. Ken works as a device for us the audience to learn about Rothko, his works and his process, but we also learn other things too (real or surmised) which would never have been revealed without him, including Rothko's vulnerability and inner sensitivity despite a brusque, pretentious and somewhat vulgar exterior.
Red is a drama based on an epsidode of the later life of Mark Rothko. Rothko was born in 1903 in Latvia (the then USSR) of Jewish parents and as a boy fled to the US with his parents settling in Portland, Oregon. Establishing himself as an Abstract Artist, Rothko moved to New York in his later life before committing suicide at the age of 67 in 1970. Here, we are in his New York studio and the play starts in 1958 and ends in 1960. At this period in his painting he had rejected most colours and favoured reds: bold oblongs or stripes of one red on a bed of usually a much deeper red. Rothko had accepted a commission to paint several large murals for the new restaurant in the Seagrams Building; an important and high profile commission which he accepted and started work on. However, as we will see, by the end of the play he gives the money back and refuses to allow his works to hang there. All of this is fact. What this play does however is introduce a second character, the fictional Ken, who is a young artist eagre to learn and is taken on by Rothko as his assistant. Ken works as a device for us the audience to learn about Rothko, his works and his process, but we also learn other things too (real or surmised) which would never have been revealed without him, including Rothko's vulnerability and inner sensitivity despite a brusque, pretentious and somewhat vulgar exterior.
"This is all about me. Everything here is about me!"
Directed by Michael Grandage (screen direction Nick Morris), and starring Alfred Molina (reprising the role he created) and Alfred Enoch as Ken, this is a 90-minute duologue of potency and truth. John Logan's Milleresque writing [Molina's portrayal of Rothko is at times very Willy Loman-esque], is tight, not a single word wasted or too many, and the speeches have sarcasm, irony, anger, envy, regret, self-realisation, and yet it's all very truthful and pithy.
The direction is immaculate and punctillious, and both Molina and Enoch excel in these roles, reacting and responding to each other perfectly.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 1/12/20
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