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| Stephen Rowe and Patrick Andrews. All photos by Carol Rosegg |
As the saying goes, “Art is in the
eye of the beholder.” Facile, but perhaps true, yet there is Auguste Rodin: “The
artist must create a spark before he can make a fire and before art is born,
the artist must be ready to be consumed by the fire of his own creation.”
There is obviously a gap, perhaps
an abyss, between those who create art and those who behold it (or own it to
place it above their mantle), and this lacuna is the inspiration for Mark
Lamos’s decision to present two plays, John Logan’s Red and Yasmina Reza’s Art,
in a semi-rep format at the Westport Country Playhouse. The former will play on
odd days, the latter on even days through May 29, and though in an interview
Lamos, who directs both plays, did not suggest an order of viewing, from an
emotional and logical perspective odd should precede even, for one cannot
behold something before it is created. Either way, both productions are, in
their own way, gripping, creating a wonderful intellectual, emotional and
humorous excursion into the creation and possession of art.
Red,
which opened on May 7, is a two-hander that has Ken (Patrick Andrews), a
neophyte painter, signing on as Mark Rothko’s assistant. Initially in awe of
the renowned painter who has been commissioned to create a set of murals for
the soon to be opened Four Seasons restaurant in the Seagram’s building, Ken
agrees to do whatever menial tasks Rothko (Stephen Rowe) requires. However,
over the course of this one-act play, accentuated by effective, evocative
lighting by Matthew Richards and dead-on sound design by David Budries (most
appreciated by those of us of the Hi-Fi-LP era), Ken begins to challenge and then
defy Rothko’s views on art and its ever-changing progression.
Set in Rothko’s Bowery studio, hauntingly
rendered by scenic designer Allen Moyer, who makes the Playhouse’s stage seem both
cavernous and hermetic, Logan’s play is a feast for the ears and the mind, for
most of the evening is an extended argument about art, the creative process and
the age-old conflict between generations. Powered by Rowe’s absorbing creation
of the acerbic, abstract expressionist painter who defied labels, ably
counterbalanced by Andrews’ coming-of-age defiance, this production rushes
forward to a climax and denouement that is totally satisfying with, compliments
of Lamos, many deft touches along the way, none more pleasing than when Rothko
and Ken prepare a canvas, a balletic, frenetic sequence set to classical music
that, at its conclusion, drew well-deserved applause, for it captures, without
dialogue, the passion inherent in the creation of art, the “spark” to which
Rodin referred. It’s a truly exciting theatrical moment.
Art may exist on its own, ethereal,
ineffable, but artists have to eat, which means they have to sell their
paintings, and that introduces the idea of assigning value to brushstrokes, the
subject of Reza’s Art, which opened
at the Playhouse on May 8. Whereas Red
essentially deals with creation, Art focuses
on the interpretation and valuation of that creation, both tasks being, in
essence, frighteningly arbitrary.
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| John Skelley, Benton Greene and Sean Dugan |
On even days at the Playhouse,
Rothko’s studio lurks in the background of an apartment (or series of
apartments defined by the art hanging on the wall) in which Reza’s Art unfolds. Serge (John Skelley) has
just bought a painting for 200,000 Euros. It is by a renowned artist. It is a
white canvas, that is, white on white. That’s it – it’s white. Marc (Benton
Greene) finds the price outlandish and the painting ridiculous, which hurts
Serge’s artistic sensibility and pride. Caught between them is Yvan (Sean
Dugan), who is about to be married. As in her God of Carnage, Reza specializes here in building on the trivial,
using it as a flashpoint to create emotional pyrotechnics that, in the case of Art, come with a great deal of humor.
Discussions about the value, or
lack of same, of the painting spiral into a test of friendship that becomes
intensely personal, revelatory and physical. In the process, this ensemble cast
doesn’t miss a beat, playing off each other with such confidence and comic
timing you might think they were one year into the run. The high point of the
evening is Yvan’s extended monologue about a phone conversation he has with his
step-mother while his intended listens in -- it’s a comic tour de force -- and
who would ever think that eating olives could elicit laughter, but it does,
thanks to some emotive body language by the cast and a smart piece of blocking
by Lamos.
That the two plays “speak” to each
other is obvious, and if you listen closely to Logan’s dialogue written for Red you will catch comments about
“white” (and about how to view a painter’s work) that can be brought forward
when you watch Art.
Now in its 86th season,
the Playhouse has a pair of winners on its hands, offering two evenings of thought-provoking
theater that will often make you laugh…and surely make you think.
Art
and Red run on alternate days through
May 29. For tickets or more information call 203-227-4177 or go to
www.westportplayhouse.org.
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