BWW Reviews: The Rep's Stunningly Good Production of RED

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis opens their season with a real corker. Red is simply ablaze with what I can only call abstract emotionalism, heating up the stage with intense performances and dialog that crackles with commentaries on art and life in general. This might be a critical cliché at this point, but this is one hot ticket and must-see event, with the two performers working under expert guidance and delivering a brilliant 90 minutes of theatre that makes you think, which is much too rare of an experience these days. This study of Mark Rothko, and the muse that guided him and his work is a sheer delight that makes you wonder what happened to any kind of real expressionism in the world of art.

Playwright John Logan follows Rothko over a period of two years, when he's at the peak of his powers and notoriety, gaining a commission to put up a series of canvases at the famed Four Seasons restaurant in New York. You might be asking yourself why, if you've ever been there (and I haven't) if they were replaced or something, but that answer comes through watching this engrossing piece of theatre. Working with Ken, who stretches his canvases and helps him put down his base coat before he begins the real work of painting, Rothko waxes philosophically on the nature of his business, and on the nature of humans.

The only reason Brian Dykstra, as Mark Rothko, doesn't dominate the stage is because he's matched step for step by Mathew Carlson as Ken. Together they spar over the requirements for good, no make that great art, and it's a constant conversation that sparkles with equal share of wit, sarcasm, and intellectual snobbery, although it rings true more often than not. Dykstra's passionate performance is the kind that draws you in and never lets you go, even after the curtain, if there was one, falls. Carlson acts as an everyman, albeit, one who paints himself, and he asks the questions we can't since we're mere spectators to this magical world of creation. You'll learn more about what it takes to make art watching these two play off one another than you will in some stuffy classroom, that's for sure.

Steven Woolf's direction is impeccable, and there are no false moments or dramatic trickery to be found here, just great performers making their work into something completely mesmerizing. He's aided by the authenticity of Michael Ganio's wonderful scenic design, which seems to drop a late 50's Bowery art studio right onto the stage at the Rep. The costumes by Dorothy Marshall Englis have that period feel as well, even when they're spattered with paint and the sweat of the labors. Phil Monat's lighting is generally low key in keeping with Rothko's wish for his painting to breathe and pulse in something less harsh than the light of day. Jeffrey Richard Carter's music selections are neatly queued by Rusty Wandall to give each moment a backdrop of classical grandeur.

The Rep's production of Red is the kind of stuff you simply can't miss if you truly love theatre. Go see it immediately. It's brilliant, engrossing and educational all at the same time.

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