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| Red |
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| Written by | John Logan |
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| Characters | Mark Rothko
Ken |
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| Date premiered | December 3, 2009 |
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| Place premiered | Donmar Warehouse, London |
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| Original language | English |
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| Genre | Drama |
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| Setting | Bowery, New York City |
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Red is a play by American writer John Logan about artist Mark Rothko first produced by the Donmar Warehouse, London, on December 8, 2009. The original production was directed by Michael Grandage and performed by Alfred Molina as Rothko and Eddie Redmayne as his fictional assistant Ken.[1][2][3]
The production, with its two leads, transferred to Broadway at the John Golden Theatre for a limited engagement which began on March 11, 2010, and closed on June 27.[4] It was the 2010 Tony Award winner for Best Play. Additionally, Redmayne won a 2010 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play.[5]
Synopsis[edit]
'There is only one thing I fear in life, my friend.. One day the black will swallow the red.'[3]
Mark Rothko is in his New York studio in 1958/59, having been commissioned to paint a group of murals for the expensive and exclusive Four Seasons restaurant. He gives orders to his assistant, Ken, as he mixes the paints, makes the frames, and paints the canvases. Ken, however, brashly questions Rothko's theories of art and his acceding to work on such a commercial project. For his part, Rothko dislikes the rise of pop art.
Ultimately, Rothko stops working on the project and decides to return the money. He explains to Ken that the Four Seasons is an inappropriate place for his murals to be seen.
Reception[edit]
Reviews for the London production were mixed for the play but positive for Molina's performance. Michael Billington in The Guardian wrote: 'Alfred Molina, with his large frame and beetling eyebrows, has exactly the fierce intensity of an artist whose paintings were a dynamic battle between Apollo and Dionysus'.[6]
In reviewing the Broadway production, Michael Kuchwara of the Associated Press wrote: 'They are the tantalizing first words of Red, John Logan's engrossing, often enthralling new play about art, an artist and the act of creation.' Those first words were 'What do you see?' Variety wrote that 'Alfred Molina is majestic'.[7]
Awards and nominations[edit]
The play won the 2010 Drama League Award for Distinguished Production of a Play and Molina won the Distinguished Performance Award.[8]
The play was nominated for a total of seven Tony Awards, winning six, including: Best Play, Best Featured Actor in a Play for Eddie Redmayne, Best Direction of a Play for Michael Grandage, Best Scenic Design of a Play for Christopher Oram, Best Lighting Design of a Play for Neil Austin, and Best Sound Design of a Play for Adam Cork.[5] In addition, Alfred Molina was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his role as Mark Rothko. All in all, it received the most wins out of any other production that season. The play also won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play while Grandage and Austin were honoured with Drama Desk Awards for their work. Molina, Cork and Oram were also similarly nominated.[9]
Other productions[edit]
Christopher Oram, Alfred Enoch, Michael Grandage, Alfred Molina in 2018 on the set of Red at the Wyndham's Theatre
In October 2013, the play premiered in Chile at Centro Mori Bellavista theatre under the title Rojo, starring Luis Gnecco and Martin Bacigalupo, directed by Rodrigo Sepúlveda and produced by The Cow Company.[citation needed]
Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, New York, mounted a production of Red in October/November 2015, starring Stephen Caffrey as Mark Rothko and John Ford-Dunker as Ken. Directed by Skip Greer, the production featured scenic design by Robert Koharchik, costume design by Ann M. Emo, lighting design by Kendall Smith and sound design by Dan Roach.[citation needed]
King of fighters 99 characters. Red played in the Pit at the New National Theatre Tokyo from August to October 2015, starring Tetsushi Tanaka as Rothko and Shun Oguri as Ken, directed by Eriko Ogawa.[10]
In October, 2016 the play opened at The Junction in Dubai before transferring to the JamJar. The production starred Osman Aboubakr as Rothko and Deepak Venugopal as Ken, with direction by Alex Broun.[citation needed]
In July/August 2017, the play was mounted at the Cape Playhouse in Dennis, Massachusetts. Stephen Caffrey starred as Mark Rothko and Patrick Stafford as Ken, with direction by David Glenn Armstrong.[citation needed]
The play was revived from May to July 2018 at the Wyndham's Theatre in London's West End, directed by Michael Grandage with Alfred Enoch, and Alfred Molina reprising his original role.[11]
Works referenced in the play[edit]
The play references other works of art:
- The Birth of Tragedy by Friedrich Nietzsche.[12]
'I go to the Santa Maria del Popolo to see Caravaggio’s ’Conversion of Saul,’ which turns out is tucked away in a dark corner of this dark church with no natural light. It’s like a cave. But the painting glowed!'.
The Red Studio by Matisse
Belshazzar's Feast by Rembrandt.
The vestibule of the Laurentian Library by Michelangelo.
References[edit]
- ^Mohr, Betty. 'Red is a larger-than-life portrait of Rothko', Chicago Sun-Times. October 19, 2011
- ^Shenton, Mark.'Alfred Molina Stars in Donmar Warehouse Premiere of Logan's Red, Opening Dec. 8', Playbill, December 8, 2009
- ^ ab'Red listing', Donmar Warehouse, retrieved May 25, 2010 Archived March 11, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^Hetrick, Adam and Jones, Kenneth.'Red, with Alfred Molina and Eddie Redmayne, Splashes Onto Broadway', Playbill, April 1, 2010
- ^ ab'Who's Nominated?'. Tony Awards. Retrieved 13 June 2010.[not in citation given]
- ^'Review: Red' by Michael Billington, The Guardian, 9 December 2009
- ^'Red reviews', didhelikeit.com, retrieved May 22, 2010
- ^Gans, Andrew.'Sondheim, Red, Bridge, La Cage and Molina Win Drama League Awards', Playbill, May 21, 2010. Accessed 11 February 2018.
- ^Gans, Andrew. 'Red, Memphis, Bridge, Fences and La Cage Win Drama Desk Awards', Playbill, May 23, 2010. Accessed 11 February 2018.
- ^Nobuko Tanaka, 'Shun Oguri faces off with an artistic master in Red', The Japan Times, August 20, 2015. Retrieved January 09, 2016.
- ^'Full casting announced for The Lieutenant of Inishmore', London Theatre 1, January 12, 2018
- ^Study Guide: Red, Erin Schachter, Jessica Warnock, Brendon Allen, Kevin Parkin, Canadian Stage, 2011
External links[edit]
- Red at the Internet Broadway Database
- Probst, Andy. 'Review Roundup: Red, with Alfred Molina, at Donmar Warehouse', theatermania.com, December 10, 2009
- Behind the Scenes: Red, by John Logan. Background material prepared for Ensemble Theatre Company by Anna Jensen.
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Red_(play)&oldid=847181309'
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A moving and compelling account of one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century, Mark Rothko, whose struggle to accept his growing riches and praise became his ultimate undoing.
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Published May 1st 2010 by Oberon Books
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Nov 01, 2017Lo rated it really liked it
یه دو پرسوناژیِ تروتمیز راجع به هنر و هنرمند و نقاشی
روایت جریانِ مدرنی که توسط جریانی مدرنتر کنارگذاشته میشه و سلیقهی عوام و هنرمندا هم به این کنارگذاشتهشدن کمک میکنه
نقاشِ مسنّی که معتقده :'فرزند باید پدر رو بفرسته بره،بهش احترام بذاره اما بکشتش.' و با همین عقیده و به کمک نقاشهای همدورهی خودش،کوبیسم رو نابودکرده و بازارِ سوررئالسیم رو داغ کرده. اما الان خودش طاقت دیدن تصاحب جایگاهِ اکسپرسیونیسم آبستره توسط پاپ آرت رو نداره و با تندی بهش واکنش نشون میده
نمیشه گفت یه نمایشنامهی تخصصی راجع به هنر و..more
May 03, 2017Fatima rated it really liked it · review of another edition
نمایشنامه ی خیلی خاصی بود هم از این جهت که فضای کارگاه نقاشی روتکو رو یه چیزی شبیه کارگاه نقاشی استاد خودم تصور میکردم و هم از این نظر که اولین بار بود یک نمایشنامه با جوهره ی هنر و نقاشی رو میخوندم . روتکو و کن دو شخصیت اصلی این نمایشنامه گاهی باهم کل کل های پر معنی ای در مورد نقاشی های روتکو میکنند و غرور و وراجی های سوزنده ی روتکو و خشمش در مورد اینکه هیچ آدمی وجود نداره تا نقاشی هایش و احساس آنها رو درک کنه گاهی منو یاد استاد خودم و یا حتی خودم که شاگردش هستم و سعی میکنم با او وارد بحث های ا..more
Nov 06, 2015A m i r rated it really liked it · review of another edition
داستان توی کارگاه روتکو اتفاق میفته. با دو شخصیت: روتکوی پنجاه و خرده ای ساله و شاگرد جوانش کن. روتکو باشگاهی رو اجاره کرده که سفارش رستوران چهارفصلِ برج سیگرم رو انجام بده. این سفارش که بزرگترین قراردادیه که تا اون موقع با یه نقاش مدرن داده میشد روتکو رو به چالش میکشونه. روتکو درنهایت کارهارو که تموم میکنه از تحویل دادن پشیمون میشه و کارها رو با شرایط خاصی که قبول کردنش حدود یک دهه طول میکشه به گالری تیت لندن میسپره.
کاش هنوز فرصت بود و میگفتم برین اون تابلوی روتکو رو تویاون گالری موزه ی هنرهای..more
May 07, 2018Bill Kerwin rated it really liked it
Red, a short play by John Logan, is based on an incident in the life of abstract painter Mark Rothko, His 1958 commission to complete a series of paintings—each in shades of red, brown and black) for Manhattan’s Four Seasons restaurant—in his subsequent “honoring” of that commission—occupy the forefront of the action, but the dialogue between the two characters (Rothko and his assistant) ranges wide, as the prickly painter, reluctantly adopting the role of the mentor, holds forth on a variety of..more
Jul 31, 2018Banafsheh rated it really liked it · review of another edition
بسیار نمایشنامه جذابی هست
شاید بشه گفت موضوعش فلسفه هنره
ولی خیلی از مسائل روانشناسی رو هم شامل میشه
داستان در آتلیه نقاشی به نام روتکو میگذره. جایی که روتکو مشغول کار روی پروژه جدیدش هست که نقاشی برای دیوار های یک رستورانه. برای این کار نیاز به دستیاری داره که این دستیار یک نقاش جوان تازه کار هست که زندگی براش قرمزه درست برعکس روتکو که زندگی رو سیاه میبینه.
شاید تعداد زیاد اسامی نقاشها و سبکهای مختلف نقاشی برای کسی مثل من که چیزی از نقاشی نمیدونه کمی گیج کننده بود ولی به هیچ وجه باعث نشد خط داستان..more
Jun 11, 2013Miriam Mathew rated it really liked it
I had the opportunity of witnessing Red as a play acted out, and it was bloody spectacular!!! The acting was perfect and there was nothing I could find wrong about anything!
So I think it's safe to say that Red by John Logan is one of the most fascinating plays I've come across. It doesn't reach up to the standards of Shakespeare; rather the play creates its own standards to be judged with, because it's just that compelling.
A note to other people, this play is actually based on a real person: Mar..more
Feb 17, 2019
Caterina rated it
it was amazing Shelves: american-author, drama, art-and-artists, set-in-usa-new-york, color-as-theme
I was lucky enough to see the Dallas debut (a few years ago) of this unusual, wonderful play about the painter Mark Rothko -- and to attend the play with a fellow-artist who, as I do, finds Rothko's paintings moving beyond words -- that is, when we have had the opportunity to stand in front of those overwhelming-yet-peace-inducing oversize canvases in real life -- not as images in books. Staged in a small, intimate theatre with just a few rows of seats on three sides around a square stage, it fe..more
Oct 01, 2018Jill Mackin rated it really liked it
An interesting portrayal of the artist, Mark Rothko. I wish I'd seen Red onstage.
Logan's play, winner of six Tony awards including Best Play, is no less than a dramatic discourse on the meaning of meaning. Certainly by having one of the characters in this two character play be the Abstract Expressionist Mark Rothko, the play is largely about the meaning of art, integrity, commerce and audience and who has the power to determine the meaning or role of each. But it is also about how individuals make meaning in their lives and how individuals and civilizations progress and chan..more
Oct 29, 2015Paniz rated it really liked it · review of another edition
کن:
میگی زندگیتو صرف پیدا کردن 'انسان'های واقعی کردی,
کسانی که بتونن با مهربونی به نقاشیهات نگاه کنن.
اما در عمق وجودت تو دیگه به وجود اون ادما باور نداری
ایمانت رو از دست داده ای.. پس ناامیدی.. پس سیاه قرمز رو بلعیده
Dec 07, 2018Hasan Abbasi rated it liked it
نمایش در باب فلسفه ی نقاشی.. به بحث در مورد مفهوم رنگ در نقاشی میپردازه. در واقع نام نمایش استعاره ای از جوشش درونی نقاش و برخورد این جوشش با قواعد، اجتماع و نظم هست. نمایشنامه بر پایه ساختاری بنا شده که هدفش روشن کردن تضادها در هنره. تضاد هایی مثل قرمز و سیاه، هنر مصرفی و هنر غیر مصرفی و از این دست. قرمز با دو نمایشنامه ی هاوارد بارکر با عناوین سرنوشت بی پایان و صحنه هایی از اجرای یک اثر نزدیکی های زیادی داره
In this two character play, John Logan, who wrote the screenplays for 'The Gladiator', 'The Aviator' and last year's 'Hugo', imagines the course of a relationship between abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko, who, at age 56, has attained the pinnacle of fame and success, and a young artist who has agreed to work as Rothko's assistant as he prepares the series of paintings he was commissioned to create for The Four Seasons restaurant in Manhattan's Seagram Center. The biographical elements..more
Apr 11, 2012Trevor rated it really liked it
Went to see this during the week. Quite a remarkable play. I’ve only ever seen two of Rothko’s paintings, tiny works both and would love to see his master works – the Seagram Murals. This is, in part, a play about those being painted. I knew, or vaguely remembered, Rothko had committed suicide, but could remember nothing of the details of that at all as I was watching the play. What was interesting here was that after the show I looked up Wiki on him and found that his suicide is virtually acted..more
Mar 29, 2016Parastoo rated it liked it · review of another edition
متن نمایشنامه کلاً در آتلیهٔ نقاشی مارک روتکو میگذره و جذابه. ترجمهاش هم بد نبود ولی از ویرایش نشدن متن ناراضیام. سه چهار تا مشکل اساسی داشت. ..more
Jan 06, 2019L'indifferente rated it really liked it · review of another edition
And everyone's clever and everyone's laughing and everyone's investing in this or that and everyone's on this charity board or that and everyone's jetting off here or there and no one looks at anything and no one thinks about anything and all they do is chatter and bark and eat and the knives and forks click and clack and the words cut and the teeth snap and snarl.
Jan 13, 2015Timothy McNeil rated it it was amazing
Perhaps I am being slightly generous with the five star rating (I cannot help but imagine that the play is much better performed than it is written, though it is written quite well). Perhaps not. It is the first thing I have really enjoyed in quite some time.
John Logan's Red succeeds so wildly -- maybe -- because it is a simple commentary that is open to boundless interpretation: Nothing is Ever Good Enough. Framed within the Rabbinical tone (complete with Socratic method), it delivers a much mo..more
Sep 09, 2014Joyce rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
I think plays on audio don't generally come across very well. It's one thing if you're following the script and can tell who the characters are (since we lack the physical cues and can sometimes only identify characters by voice) or if you know the play well. Otherwise, you can be lost. Red is the exception. Only two characters--the towering Rothko with an outsized ego and temper and his hesitant new assistant Ken. What a performance from Molina; we don't need to see what's happen, we can imagin..more
یک نمایشنامه ی خوب که با ترجمه ی آراز بارسقیان فوق العاده اس ...
Aug 03, 2018Si Squires-Kasten rated it really liked it
I was dreading this play, because biographical plays about important artists are always excruciating, but John Logan presents an awesome challenge to designers that in the right hands could live up to the legacy of the artist it portrays. It's a play I could see myself directing; it's not at all like the things I like to write. I imagine the playing space becoming the inside of Rothko's head, overwhelming and beautiful and depressing and ultimately smaller than he thinks.
Oct 31, 2018Kaveh rated it liked it · review of another edition
همه داستان در یک کارگاه نقاشی رخ میدهد. گفتگوها بین نقاشی پنجاه ساله از نسل گذشته و شاگرد بیست سالهاش از نسل حال است.
نقاشی که در دوره گذار از هنر کلاسیک به هنر مردمپسند زندگی میکند و بسیار عذاب میکشد و با خود و شاگرد جوانش کشمکش دارد. ..more
Apr 24, 2019Victoria rated it it was amazing
Wow. This is one of the best plays I've ever read. It has a lot to say about art and artists. It veers cerebral at times, but the playwright always brings us back down to earth.
Feb 19, 2013Johnny rated it it was amazing
Red may on first glance seem like a gimmick of a play in which Logan uses the eccentric Mark Rothko to convey some tired positions on the balance of commerce and art, yet there is far more depth to this play. The conceit is simple enough: Rothko has hired a bright-eyed and idealistic assistant named Ken to help him complete the series of murals he has been commissioned to paint for New York's Four Seasons Restaurant. Over the course of the play, Rothko conveys his many conflicting thoughts on ar..more
Apr 03, 2018Roderick Vincent rated it it was amazing
A wonderful play about art and its significance to those who create it, in this case Rothko.
Aug 25, 2018Bill FromPA rated it liked it
I read this online here.
I've never cared much for Rothko's art but nevertheless am fascinated by the appeal he has for so many. When I heard about this play, I was curious as to how the artist was treated.
I haven't gone to the theater in years and when I did, I only attended contemporary plays that were chosen by friends - my own preferences were either classics, musical theater, or opera. I occasionally enjoyed plays by David Mamet or Tom Stoppard, but most others I found forgettable.
Red remin..more
Powerful and touching. There are many lines I liked, but copied here out of context would lose something.. so here are just a few. I recommend reading this play, but better still go see it! And go sit in the Rothko room in the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.
'There is only one thing I fear in life, my friend..One day the black will swallow the red.'
'.. a generation that does not aspire to seriousness, to meaning is unworthy to walk in the shadow of those who have gone before..'
'I AM..more
Oct 02, 2011Kelly rated it liked it · review of another edition
'Red' is, in many ways, a typical high-society play; two characters (Mark Rothko and his assistant) have spirited discussions about art and commerce. It is very short. Anyone familiar with the lifespan and ethos of abstract expressionism will not learn much about the history of the period, but it certainly serves an educational purpose for those who don't. In lieu of character conflict and plot development, the play tends to revolve around long-winded speeches about art. This is a good play and..more
Like many contemporary plays, this is a little undercooked but, even so, this is a ferocious work full of wonderful moments in which one of the most magisterial of American artists, Mark Rothko, battles time and the forces of consumerist American culture in order to create his masterpiece.
Nov 11, 2014Aysan Abbasi rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Fantastic. Energetic, contemplative. A wonderful look at art and why artists create, what audiences see..what moves us as people.
May 08, 2016Luke Devenish rated it really liked it
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Logan was a successful playwright in Chicago for many years before turning to screenwriting. His first play, Never the Sinner, tells the story of the infamous Leopold and Loeb case. Subsequent plays include Hauptmann, about the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, and Riverview, a musical melodrama set at Chicago's famed amusement park.
His play Red, about artist Mark Rothko, was produced by the Donmar Wareh..more
“ROTHKO: (Explodes) 'Pretty.' 'Beautiful.' 'Nice.' 'Fine.' That's our life now! Everything's 'fine'. We put on the funny nose and glasses and slip on the banana peel and the TV makes everything happy and everyone's laughing all the time, it's all so goddamn funny, it's our constitutional right to be amused all the time, isn't it? We're a smirking nation, living under the tyranny of 'fine.' How are you? Fine. How was your day? Fine. How are you feeling? Fine. How did you like the painting? Fine. What some dinner? Fine.. Well, let me tell you, everything is not fine!!
HOW ARE YOU?!.. HOW WAS YOUR DAY?!.. HOW ARE YOU FEELING? Conflicted. Nuanced. Troubled. Diseased. Doomed. I am not fine. We are not fine. We are anything but fine.. Look at these pictures. Look at them! You see the dark rectangle, like a doorway, an aperture, yes but it’s also a gaping mouth letting out a silent howl of something feral and foul and primal and REAL. Not nice. Not fine. Real. A moan of rapture. Something divine or damned. Something immortal, not comic books or soup cans, something beyond me and beyond now. And whatever it is, it’s not pretty and it’s not fine..I AM HERE TO STOP YOUR HEART” — 25 likes
“When I was your age, art was a lonely thing: no galleries, no collecting, no critics, no money. We didn't have mentors. We didn't have parents. We were alone. But it was a great time, because we had nothing to lose and a vision to gain.” — 10 likes
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