The play Red in the Center by contemporary American screenwriter and playwright John Logan is one of the most prominent plays of the 20th century. post-war contemporary art personalities Mark Rothko. The action takes place in the 1950s, in New York, in Rothko's studio. A young painter Ken gets a job as an artist's assistant. At the same time, Rothko receives a commission to create monumental paintings for the luxurious Four Seasons restaurant in the newly designed Seagram building by the then American architectural icon Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Rothko's young assistant, Ken, challenges the teacher's choice. After visiting the restaurant and seeing that his works would become nothing more than a representation of the gatherings of the society's elite, Rothko breaks the agreement and returns the customer's money...
Rothko strongly believed that the artist's truth is above the public interest: In matters of art our society values taste more than truth and changes its tastes like hats or shoes. And although Rothko did not leave his students, his creative position inspires many young artists. Valentinas Masalskis, who is creating the role of Rothko, is also looking for a connection with youth, a new generation in his performance, working together with three young artists.
Mark Rothko said: I am only interested in expressing the most important human emotions - tragedy, ecstasy, destiny. And he sought to convey basic human emotions in his works: If you are only concerned with the connection of colors in the paintings, then you are not seeing the essence. in 1903 Markus Rothkowitz was born in Latvia in 1913. emigrated with his family to the United States of America. There he changed his surname to Rothko. in 1921 entered Yale University, which he dropped out after two years. in 1925 began to study at the Parsons School of Design under the painter Arshile Gorky, who, like many representatives of abstract expressionism, greatly influenced him. Rothko created his artistic language in 1947. Critic Clement Greenberg called it the term for color field painting. It is a style characterized by large open spaces and expressive colors. Rothko was one of the pioneers of this style. His colored rectangles seemed to dematerialize into pure light,” wrote William S. Rubin, former chief curator of paintings and sculpture at MoMA (the Museum of Modern Art in New York). Rothko spent the rest of his career exploring the limitless possibilities of different shapes and colors and the arrangement of rectangles in color fields. in 1968 due to the difficult, anxious years and the resulting propensity for bad habits, Rothko's health began to decline. Despite the doctor's orders, Rothko continued to harm his health, but to reduce the strain on the body, he reduced the sizes of his canvases and replaced oil paints with acrylics. In 1970, at the age of 66, the chronically depressed artist committed suicide, leaving behind his works, which achieved commercial success after his death.
Valentinas Masalskis: When I read this play, it seemed to me that it is really worth paying attention to, as well as the personality acting in it. It can be said that this is an elite play. But it seems to me that it is deeply problematic. The tragedy of the artist's aging is important here, as well as his understanding that another generation is coming. The play is written about a person coming, not about a person leaving. Although the tragedy of Mark Rothko is felt throughout the play. He actually committed suicide on February 25, 1970.
I personally understand the tragedy of Rothko, the sense that an aging artist must leave and make way for the next one. There comes a time when you realize that your art is temporary. It seems to me that the artist, and the art itself, live together with the current time, the period. Its historical value is antique. Art is a wake-up call, a promoter of society, it is like the face with which a person is born and dies. I think this is the function, the purpose of art. Therefore, living art must always renew itself. At all times, young people come to the place of masters with big claims, with their own convictions. The play "Raudona" depicts the clash of two artists: the experience of a young, beginning artist and an elderly artist who has tried many things and has his own scale of values. In principle, it is an intersection of generations and viewpoints. It is interesting to observe how the cultural experience that shaped Rothko means something completely different to the young artist. In my performance, I aim to show the intersection of outgoing and incoming artists. To grasp the problems arising from it.
Rothko is self-centered, capricious, whimsical, self-indulgent, like any strong artist. At the very beginning, he does not see the signs of his environment, he does not want to hear the next generation, just like the young man who came to him... But at the end, he releases the same young man, pushing him to fight. So he heard him at the end. It seems to me that in the play Rothko has a very clear sense that he no longer understands the signs of the times today... And the first thing that tells him about this is a young artist when he protests against Rothko's ambition to create an art sanctuary from his works in a luxury restaurant. Rothko does not understand that the world is turning elsewhere, that it is becoming a place of consumption... I am communicating with the young artist Mykolas Sauka, who is creating the scenery for this performance. He interestingly said that an artist, like an actor or a singer, knows that he has to quit, but he really doesn't know when to quit. You don't have a voice anymore, but you sing, you barely walk, but you play a role, you can't hold a brush in your hand, but you paint... Because it seems that you still can, that you are still needed. That moment of impending needlessness is very painful for the artist. His aging, loss of strength, loss of excitement, loss of passion...
Our theaters are unable or unwilling to speak mature language. Dramaturgy became a newspaper. For me, in current dramaturgy, the playwright's own literary insight, philosophical approach to man, and philosophical sentence are greatly lacking. It has turned into such a small world of small confessions. I would like this work of ours to be really meaningful.
