The
Necessary Theatre proudly announces the Asian premiere of “ RED ” - the 2010 Tony Award Winner for
Best Play written by American writer John Logan about the famous abstract
expressionist painter artist Mark Rothko.
“ RED” is set to open on February 22,
2103 -
7:30 P.M. at CSB - SDA Theater, 5/F College of St. Benilde School of
Design And Arts located at Pablo Ocampo
St., Malate, Manila. The other playdates
are on Feb. 23; March 1 and 2, 2013.
“
Red ” by John Logan won almost every major award in London when it premiered in
2009 and went on to do the same in New York the following year. This brilliant
play by John Logan (The Last Samurai, Gladiator, Any Given Sunday) speculates
about one of the most enigmatic incidents in the 20th Century art world.
In 1958, the abstract expressionist painter
Mark Rothko was commissioned, for an astounding sum, to paint a series of
murals for the cutting edge Seagram Building on Park Avenue. After completing
the works, he decides to keep them and returns every penny of his commission.
Years later, he donates the works to the Tate Gallery in London and commits
suicide.
The play introduces a fictitious assistant
who engages Rothko in arguments and conversations that ultimately make us
understand why he might decide to withdraw his work from the commission.
Playing Rothko is theater veteran Bart
Guingona who also directs. He is matched line for line by another veteran, also
a director, albeit one generation younger, Joaquin Valdes playing the fictional
assistant Ken.
Bart is known for playing intense, driven
characters (Hamlet, John Proctor, Oedipus, etc.) while Joaquin, who started his
career at the age of 9 (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe), is carving out a
name for himself as a film and commercial director. People sat up when he won
the an award for his first short “Bulong” at the Beijing Film Festival and then
took further notice of his considerable skill and talent when he released
“Dagim.”
Although these two directors now find
themselves busy doing work outside the theater, each one finds himself
gravitating back to what both consider a “true love.”
“ Red ” the play is a dramatic look at the
artistic process and it is both gripping and emotional and never less than
intelligent. In a series of scenes, the two characters trade wit and barbed
emotions provoking us to think about the tension between art and commerce; the cycles
of fashion and obsolescence; the dynamic between teacher and student, and most
touchingly, the relationship between forebear and offspring.
“ Red ” is produced by Actor’s Actors Inc.
and CSB’s The Vito Cruz Project.
Tickets are available at Ticketworld
8919999 or through 09159108098. Like us, www.facebook.com/TheNecessaryTheatre.
