Give Us More to See

Review: Red
Wimberly Theatre, Boston
January 11, 2011

Mark Rothko, No. 14, 1960

In 1958, abstract expressionist painter (and rising star) Mark Rothko accepted a commission to create murals for The Four Seasons in Manhattan. "I wanted to paint something that would ruin the appetite of every son-of-a-bitch who ever eats in that room," he said. "If the restaurant would refuse to put up my murals, that would be the ultimate compliment. But they won’t." Josh Logan's new play Red studies Rothko over two years as he and his assistant ready paintings for the restaurant.
 
What Logan captures best is Rothko's unerring emotionalism. He has accepted the Four Seasons gig to let the work transform the space, to turn an overpriced, commercialized hotspot into a cathedral for his expression. As Logan presents him, Rothko is not godlike, and does not think of himself that way. He's human to a fault, bubbling over with anger at the slightest provocation, but also thoughtful and willing to open up. Thomas Derrah finds this balance easily in the Speakeasy's current staging in Boston: his Rothko is not enigmatic, nor is he impossible to connect with. For all of his philosophizing, he simply believes the power his colors hold, revolutionizing the tradition of Joan Miró and Salvador Dalí.
 
Logan stumbles on one key moment: Rothko's boyish assistant Ken, an enterprising painter himself, has a dark childhood secret. This comes after a breathless tableau, the two men priming a canvas blood-red, and Ken's sudden confession feels like Logan is forcing emotions after they'd just been summoned with only paintbrushs.
 
Ken gains chutzpah over their two-year collaboration, and him battling Rothko over the crassness of the commission is one of the play's pleasures. Karl Baker Olson pushes Ken's naivete too much at first, but he soon becomes a confident opponent. He's part of the young crowd, pushing their mentors aside to create something new. The trend is Pop Art, which Rothko dismisses, quietly fearing that he'll soon be snuffed out. Red casts a remarkably level-headed look at the painter Logan enlivens. Like the paintings, layered rectangles of searing color, it's not what the play says, it's how it feels.