This week EUTC present a new production of John Logan’s 2008 play Red. This biographical portrait of twenteith century painter Mark Rothko focuses on the conception and execution of his magestirial ‘Seagram Murals’. Theodore Casimir-Lambert directs Rufus Goodman as Rothko and Dylan Kaeuper as assistant Ken. I sat down with the cast to chat through their processes and how they have gone about tackling this play.
A key moment in their process was actually taking the time to go see the Seagram murals in person, exhibited at the Tate Modern all year round. “They were really cool” says Kaeuper. “Before going in, I was kind of dismissive of them.” Casimir-Lambert chips in “there’s something about seeing the murals in the flesh.” He explains the paintings “were commissioned for The Four Seasons restaurant in New York, which at the time was one of if not the most important restaurant in the city, so arguably one of the most important restaurants in the world. Rothko was given $65,000 to paint them, a huge amount of money for the time.”
The cast and crew stress the play is as much about mentorship and parenthood as it is biography and aesthetics. Goodman’s approach to constructing the character, a mixture of text-work and biographical research led him to understand “he has a very maternal relationship to his paintings.” He also notes “Rothko did theatre in college. He only discovered painting at 21 years old, after walking into a nude art class, in which he was drawn to the nude model. His relationship to his paintings is then equally maternal and erotic.” The play portrays Rothko as a genius, but a complicated one. “He’s a bit of an arse” jokes Goodman, “and the play is not afraid to show him up, to challenge him on his pseudo-intellectualism. Yes, he’s a genius, but the play admits its more complicated than that.”
Meanwhile Kaeuper’s character Ken, invented by the author, is an amalgamation of various assistants as well as a symbol of the new art that is developing in the city as Rothko paints the Seagram murals. Kaeuper says “Rothko can be a nasty ball of energy, but Ken loves this dude, idolises him.” Outside of the play’s depictions of Rothko’s rage and complications, Kaeuper finds “moments of nice chatting, a kind of father-son relationship.”
“Do you think he reminds Rothko of himself at that age?” he asks Rufus, who replies “I think he wishes he was more like Ken. Ken has that fight, that hunger, confidence. Rothko certainly didn’t have that in his twenties.” Casimir-Lambert says “I think Rothko likes that Ken stands up to him. That makes him different to all the other assistants.” That defiance is part of what all three creatives find paternal in this play’s central relationship. Kaeuper adds “I think the play really shows Rothko gains respect for Ken, whilst also showing Ken lose respect for Rothko. He’s in his mid twenties but it really is a play about his transition from childhood into adulthood, his becoming himself.”
It is also, a tragic play about Rothko’s suicide. “The seagram murals are massively changed by knowing that,” says Kaeuper. Goodman admits “art normally goes over my head, but there’s a line in the play that strikes me seeing them. ‘How do you know when the painting is done? / When there’s Tragedy in every brushstroke’. You can make out every brushstroke, see the texture, every squiggle and splatter.” In Goodman’s eyes, the play is partly a tragedy of a man “losing the will to fight his ideations.”
Key to the text, says Casimir-Lambert is Nietszche’s ‘The Birth of Tragedy’, also integral to the painter’s work, and that the cast and crew have all been dipping into it. The text isn’t afraid to shy away from aesthetic philosophy, whilst also expertly drawing the central relationship. “It’s written exceptionally well” says Casimir-Lambert. Kaeuper adds, “It looks like two guys talking about art but it’s also very funny too. I’ve found the humour is what makes the play work.”
Casimir-Lambert agrees, “It’s an incredible balance. And I hope audiences go away thinking about why we create art. What do we want to leave behind? Do we want to contribute to a zeitgeist, or do we want to say something we think is meaningful?” Goodman adds to this “they talk about art because they don’t know how to talk about themselves as human beings with emotions.” Kaeuper chips in “Ken uses art as a therapy.” Rothko, says Goodman “criticises pop-art, and its a disguised cry for help. They’re not able to express tenderness, but through art, they find a method to do so.” He concludes, rather fittingly that Red is “not a play about art, but a play about humans. Art is the catalyst for that.”
Edinburgh University Theatre Company’s production of Red runs from 7-9 October at the Bedlam Theatre.
Production Promotional Image provided on behalf of Red
