Are the visual arts coming to Broadway again? And what picture will be drawn? It’s not always “good” for art: Art was a winning play, more about friendship than painting, but it still reinforced some conventional antipathy toward art.
Now there’s word around New York that Red, a play by John Logan about Mark Rothko that opened on Dec. 8 at Donmar Warehouse in London, is likely to transfer to New York, probably this spring.
The play is set in 1958-59, and involves the commission Rothko won for a series of murals from the Four Seasons restaurant. The title stems from this quote: “There is only one thing I fear in life my friend… One day the black will swallow the red.”
Here’s what the Official London Theatre Guide says:
Under the watchful gaze of his young assistant and the threatening presence of a new generation of artists, Mark Rothko takes on his greatest challenge yet: to create a definitive work for an extraordinary setting.
Red is a moving and compelling account of Rothko’s struggle to accept his growing riches and the praise heaped upon him, which became his ultimate undoing.
Alfred Molina plays Rothko in London, where the drama closes on Feb. 6. He would do it in New York, too.
London critics were mixed about the play. The Telegraph called it “second-rate.” The Independent liked it much better, saying it was “brilliantly acted,” and so did The Guardian.
But all agreed that the play gives theatre-goers a window on a great artist, deploying several bits of conventional wisdom. The set, Rothko’s studio on the Bowery, is a symbolic mess of splattered red paint, foreshadowing Rothko’s death. Rothko is cranky, somewhat abusive to the only other character, his assistant, who represents the younger generation of artists about to supplant Rothko’s generation.
That’s human nature. But the critics said the play goes on about art, too. I’m eager to hear exactly what…
Photo Credit: Johan Persson, Courtesy London Theatre Guide