Pair capably fuels fury, fervor in ‘Red’

"Red," the latest play at The Actors’ Group, is a riveting meditation on the act of artistic creation with a deceptively simple title. 

Written by John Logan — who went on to do the screenplays for Martin Scorsese’s Howard Hughes biopic "The Aviator" and the James Bond flick "Skyfall" — the two-man acting spectacular examines the complex relationship between the renowned abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko and his fictional assistant in 1950s New York.

It’s only a two-man production, but both award-worthy leads make the most of it and tear up the stage with intense vocal theatrics and ferocious arguments on the meaning and purpose of art.

Kevin Keaveney’s Rothko is a chain-smoking, verbally abusive, pretentious, "solipsistic bully" — per his assistant. He is working on a series of murals that will go into a restaurant to be eventually known as the famous Four Seasons, and he agonizes, roars and screams at his assistant, all under the guise of his actions being part of his artistic process.

Matching Keaveney in the less showy part is James Denzer as his assistant Ken. He starts out mousey and passive-aggressive, but by the end of intermission, Ken develops ideas of his own and isn’t afraid to strike back at his master. Perhaps the egotistical Rothko is actually wrought with these demons because he is "selling out" his precious murals to a commercial establishment filled with unworthy viewers.

The set is sparse with splattered canvases, paint buckets and dirty cloths littering the floor and a desk and sink area with a telephone and a much-used liquor bottle. The stage is dominated, though, by an empty hanging frame that is supposed to be one of Rothko’s ongoing works. When not arguing, both actors stand in front of the frame and stare and contemplate the color red (an ongoing image that is imagined to be there). Depending where you sit in the audience, much of the time, the two performers are in the center of that frame, and the effect is almost voyeuristic and adds another shade to the art piece it supposedly portrays.

A question often repeated in the script is "What do you see?" The two actors go back and forth on the color red, but from the audience’s viewpoint we see them — a subtle but effective device from set designers Andy Alvarado and Kathy Bowers, who also directed this exquisite drama.

After seeing "Red," it’s impossible not to go back and research the artist’s work.

For those unfamiliar with Rothko’s personal history, he eventually committed suicide by slitting his wrists in 1970, almost 20 years after this play takes place. At the beginning of the last act of "Red," Ken finds Rothko, sleeping in his chair with hands dripping red liquid. Ken is relieved to find out it was just paint, but this scene gains a painful nuance of tragedy when one knows how the tortured Rothko died.

Even more telling is the last painting shown on Rothko’s Wikipedia page. It’s "Untitled (Black on Gray)." Much time is spent in the screenplay discussing Rothko’s themes on and, ultimately, his fear of the color black, which, among other things, he equates with death. It’s sad that "the black" eventually swallowed his talent, but as the man himself said regarding his art, "The point is always the tragedy."