Theater

Acting Duo Paint the Town RED

New drama proves gripping, provocative

by Helen Cooper   |   Feb 22, 2010

Acting Duo Paint the Town RED

Alfred Molina (Mark Rothko) and Eddie Redmayne (Ken) (Photo: Johan Persson)

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RED is the story of a talented artist dealing with the great crux of artistic success, how does an artist cope with the added pressure of the pinnacle? Where do you go from the top? What happens when art simply for the sake of art can no longer be your only objective? The new play by John Logan about master 20th-century abstract painter Mark Rothko, will open on Broadway on Thursday, April 1 for a limited 15-week engagement at the Golden Theatre (252 West 45th Street). Previews will begin on Thursday, March 11.

Donmar Warehouse will present RED, and Donmar artistic director Michael Grandage will direct. “Following the wonderful response to Hamlet earlier this season, I am delighted that Donmar will be returning to Broadway to present John Logan’s brilliant new play,” commented director Grandage. “With two outstanding performances from Alfred Molina and Eddie Redmayne, this thrilling 90-minute piece about the great New York artist Mark Rothko now has an opportunity to engage with a wider audience.”

The play is remarkable not only for a stirring script, which follows Mark Rothko as he struggles to complete a series of murals for The Four Seasons restaurant in the new Seagram Building on Park Avenue, a commission that at the time is the art world’s biggest, but for it’s acting partnership. Veteran Alfred Molina portrays Rothko, infusing his decades long stage and screen career with the levity it takes to play a man struggling to accept the monsters that come with success. Relative newcomer Eddie Redmayne plays his watchful assistant Ken. Redmayne, currently garnering praise and attention for his turn in the independent film The Yellow Handkerchief opposite Twilight superstar Kristin Stewart, is deft as Molina’s acting match. It is the chemistry and care between the two that makes the drama particularly appealing.

For more information or to purchase tickets to RED, please visit www.redonbroadway.com.