This past spring, when I was living in London, I visited the Tate Modern. The bright and well lit corridors let sunlight splash on all the works from Picasso to Warhol. One room however, was decidedly un-cheery and shrouded in a half light that made your eyes strain to look at the pieces. This room housed only works of Rothko.

I must say, while I love a good piece of abstract expressionism, I didn’t ‘get it’.

Thursday night, I went to the opening night of the play Red presented by Canadian Stage, which is based on the life of Rothko, hoping to finally ‘get it’.

As you sit down, large screens hide the stage, and on them various hues of red dance back and forth acting almost as a cinematic element to the play. They retract when the actors are acting, and protract as a division between scenes. They are so beautiful and every time they dim and leave our focus, I am eager for their return.

Jim Mezon did an amazing job playing Rothko, his words were insightful yet venomous and peppered with a slight Russian accent. His acting was impeccable and interacted naturally with the character Ken’s (played by David Coomber) excitable and eager nature.

The play touched on a lot of the “big issues” like complacency and integrity and love for one’s art. It made me think a lot and the whole thing seemed like one big philosophy lesson (which is a good thing).

Most importantly, I walked away from the performance understanding more about Rothko and his work.

The paintings on stage, meant to emulate the very ones I saw in the Tate Modern were blasted with harsh lighting to illustrate to Ken just why they must remain in dim lighting, and I got it. The paintings looked cold stark and lifeless. The red on the canvas seemed cold and harsh, like Rothko himself.

Red is playing from November 19th to December 17th at the Bluma Appel Theatre in the St.Lawrence Centre for the Arts. For more information check out www.experiencered.ca

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