Everything's better on toast...including Rothko?
 |
| Rothko Toast, by Leah Busch and Sandra Gross. Photo credit; Jeff Sabo. |
"There is only one thing I fear in life, my friend...One day the black will swallow the red."
Yesterday, I saw a play. As a musician I tend to go and see a lot of concerts, especially classical music. So, it's really refreshing to go see things like plays, jazz music, art galleries, food events, book/poetry readings, sports matches, etc. that aren't directly related to the field I am pursuing. (Ironically though, I have aspired to be all of those - an actress, artist, chef, writer and athlete - at some point in my life. Alas, it is less fulfilling to be a jack of all trades and master of none).
The play I saw yesterday is called "Red", and is by the American writer John Logan. Clearly I'm not the only one to think it's amazing - it won several Tony Awards in 2010! The play is about the artist Mark Rothko and his assistant, Ken, and how they work together in Rothko's studio in New York. It's one of those plays with a poignant theme that acts as an undercurrent all through the piece...and that, as you may have guessed from the title, is "Red". Red symbolizes life, in the sunrises, roses, cherries, apples, blush, lipstick, stop signs, fire engines, arterial blood. When Rothko asks what Ken sees in the art in his studio, "red" is the answer. And as per the quote above, Rothko's fear is that one day the "black will swallow the red" - or that death and depression will overcome life and vitality.
"Red" as a play only has two actors, and is set entirely in one room: Rothko's studio. This is what made the show so very effective - the fewer characters and settings a play has, the deeper the content has to be. There are more facets to the characters - or it is plainly and sometimes painfully apparent if there is a lack of these facets. Watching two people interact like that, with almost nothing but themselves to respond to, is enthralling and shows so much of the skill of the actors to truly be those people they portray. The audience leaves having witnessed something mystifying and subtly spectacular.
There is a movie (also based on a play) that I recall seeing, that also has just two main characters. This one is entitled "Sleuth" and I remember at the end having a similar feeling of having witnessed something special and intimate, and a little bit frightening in its depth...so deep that one feels the risk of getting stuck, but so invigorating to the mind that it would be impossible to do so.
These kinds of plays/films are an example of the power of minimalism - less extraneous factors providing a more powerful result. Minimalism is frequently talked about and has received a lot of attention these days as a way of life. It's becoming a more popular ideal to have. But minimalism (in the way of these works) is actually an existing genre and there are plenty of other examples of minimalist art and music. Below is a movement from Philip Glass's Violin Concerto.
The majority of most of our lives does not fall into the genre of minimalism. It is important to sometimes seek out and pay attention to those things that as a whole, create something larger than the sum of their parts. These things can hopefully inspire us to do the same in, and with, our own lives.
 |
What do you see?
No comments:
Post a Comment