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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><b><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Cleveland Play House’ s RED, everything theatre
should be!</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"><span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Roy Berko</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Palatino;color:black">(Member, American
Theatre Critics Association)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">If you’ve ever gone into an art gallery and seen
a canvas with a large square within another square on a solid background, or a
strip of color vertically slicing through a sea of solid color, you’ve been
exposed to what may be classified as a painting of the anti-figurative
aesthetic segment of the Abstract Expressionism movement.<span style> </span>One of the most important
painters of that school of art was Mark Rothko.<span style> </span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Palatino;color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Playwright John Logan’s RED illuminates a short
period of time in Rothko’s life when he was commissioned to create a series of
paintings for the Four Seasons Restaurant in New York’s Seagram Building.<span style> </span>It illustrates through drama and humor
Rothko’s fanatic belief that art matters.<span style>
</span>It also gives a glimpse into the complexity of the man and his bi-polar
personality.<span style> </span>One minute he is a
gentle philosopher, the next a maniac tyrant. <span style> </span>The play illuminates the being of an artist and his
creations.<span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Russian born Rothko (Marcus Rothkowitz) was a
product of the Realistic movement of art, but he moved quickly away from
that.<span style> </span>He, along with some other
painters formed a group called The Ten, joining together on a mission “to
protest against the reputed equivalence of American painting and literal
painting.”<span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Rothko and success did not meld easily.<span style> </span>After receiving acclaim, he became
almost paranoid over the views of critics, curators and the public, in general.<span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">In order to display his art in the way that he
thought proper, he built The Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas, a holy space that
is open to all faiths, but belongs to none.<span style> </span>In it he placed his works, including those that were
intended for the Four Seasons Restaurant, but which he refused to place inside
the fabled eating establishment because, after visiting the space, he decided
that it was not a proper setting for seeing and appreciating his work.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Logan’s RED has Rothko hiring Ken, a young art
student, to be his assistant.<span style> </span>At
first Rothko’s strong personality almost overwhelms Ken, but gradually, they
develop a working agreement.<span style> </span>Not a
friendship, not Rothko acting as a father figure or teacher, but two artisans
working together in an unequal balance.<span style>
</span>That connection lasts until Ken finally says what he needs to
express.<span style> </span>Ken is fired, but has
learned a great deal about art, himself, Rothko, and the color red.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">The play is filled with mentally and emotionally
inciting lines.<span style> </span>Included are:<span style> </span>“You can’t be an artist until you are
civilized.”<span style> </span>“Most painting is
thinking.”<span style> </span>“A picture lives by
companionship.”<span style> </span>“Not all art is
psychodrama.”<span style> </span>“Silence is
accurate.”<span style> </span>“Black swallows
red.”<span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">It’s impossible to sit through the show and be
passive.<span style> </span>There is just too much
going on that excites the mind.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Director Anders Cato has molded the production
into a compelling study of art history and the mind of an artist, at least
Rothko as artist.<span style> </span>The show is well
paced, holds the audience’s attention for the 90-minutes of dialogue, and
brings out excellent portrayals by both actors.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Bob Ari, who is probably best known for his
being Nixon in FROST/NIXON, is the consummate professional.<span style> </span>He is totally believable as the
explosive Rothko.<span style> </span>His every word
and movement are meaningful.<span style> </span>The
passion of Rothko is the passion of Ari.<span style>
</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Young Randy Harrison, is probably best known for
making many gay men his admirers as the handsome Justin in Showtime’s QUEER AS
FOLK and picked up another slew of fans for his portrayal of Boq in the musical
WICKED.<span style> </span>Harrison is completely
natural and believable as the apprentice who endures the mood swings of
Rothko.<span style> </span>He accomplishes what is so
difficult to do on stage…listening effectively.<span style> </span>He watches every gesture, observes every word of Ari with
total concentration.<span style> </span>He gives a
master class of being in, deep in a role.<span style>
</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Ari and Harrison play well off each other. <span style> </span>The emotional and physically exhausting
scene where the duo primes a blank canvas with reddish paint is enthralling.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Dan Kotlowitz’s lighting design helps create the
right moods and, like good choreography does to music, follows the flow of the
words to develop the right moods and textures.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><i style><span style="font-family:Palatino">CAPSULE
JUDGMENT: Must see RED is special—great acting, a fine script, thought
provoking dialogue, educational—everything theatre should be!</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino">RED runs through April 8 at the Allen Theatre.<span style> </span>For tickets call 216-241-6000 or go to
<a href="http://www.clevelandplayhouse.com">www.clevelandplayhouse.com</a>.</span></p>