Red: “Here to Stop Your Heart and Make You Think”
Last Saturday night, I sat down to a performance of Red at the Gremlin Theater. Looking out at the stage floor splattered with paint, I was ready to find out more about the abstract expressionist painter Markus Rothkowitz, aka Mark Rothko, famed for his paintings of rectangular fields of color.
Red, written by John Logan, is a poignant play set during the two years Mark Rothko (played by Pearce Bunting) was working on the Seagram Murals, a commissioned piece for a high-end restaurant in New York. We are invited into the painter's mind through his interactions with his fictional, new assistant Ken (played by Ben Shaw), who Rothko aggressively instructs on how to engage with art (and how to think, in general).
At one point he tells Ken, “only 10% of painting is painting, the rest is thinking,” and that is truly felt throughout this show. His philosophy lessons take us through his verdicts on cubism, renaissance, expressionism, and modern art. The two men share ideas, and although the start of the conversations vary in who begins them, they almost always end with Rothko basking in the success of having “won” in expressing his opinions from Pollack to Nietzche.
The emotional pinnacle of the play comes when Ken finally calls Rothko out on all of his egotistical hypocrisies. While Pearce Bunting is a powerhouse performance throughout the show, I was captivated by Ben Shaw’s precision and strength during this speech. While Ken pauses at the end, letting the silence sink in for a moment before saying, “well, I guess I’m fired;” Rothko, highlighting their abusive, father-son dynamic, showcases the disturbed admiration of being cut down in order to acknowledge any value in someone’s presence by saying, “Fired? This is the first time you are actually here.”
When we next see them together, Ken does get fired and as he demands a reason, Rothko deflects before yelling, “because your life is out there!” I was moved to tears for the pain of this tragic connection that was coming to a close. Ken is sent off on his way to live his life and hopefully be inspired as the next generation of painters to say something new through his work.
Directed wonderfully by Ellen Fenster-Gharib, the physicality of the play built the tension between the two characters and had the two men engaging with art and paint throughout the show, from mixing up colors, to stapling a canvas, to washing paint from the floor and the hands of the aging painter. The stand out scene for me, was a beautifully choreographed moment where the men prime a red canvas together. chaotically at first but then they switch to synchronicity–a symbol of the development of their relationship: conflicted, chaotic, and competitive and finally, unified in understanding and complete.
The Lighting design and set production by Carl Schoenborn worked well to keep us locked in with these two in the studio. Another favorite moment of mine was the final scene with Rothko standing alone on stage as a rectangular, red light closes on him, and we watch it fade as the symbolism of his greatest fear is felt and realized: the black swallows the red.
Showing through March 1, if you are looking for a thought-provoking, heart-wrenching show this weekend, check it out!
Photo credit: Alyssa Kristine Photography.
