Alfred Molina in “Red” [THEATER REVIEW]
Alfred Molina in the Tony-winning Donmar Warehouse production of Red, at the Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum. Photo by Craig Schwartz Although the terminus of Mark Rothko’s impassioned and tumultuous life is but presciently alluded to in John Logan’s pugilistic “Red,” the script resonates because of it. In 1958, Rothko accepted a large sum of money – $35,000 – to create a quartet of paintings for the posh Four Seasons restaurant atop New York City’s Seagram Building. By doing that, did he paint himself into a corner? “Red,” which stars Alfred Molina as Rothko and Jonathan Groff as his hired assistant, Ken, is an award-winning play onstage through Sept. 9 at the Mark Taper Forum. To be an artist, as opposed to a mere decorator, which is what most painters are, is to step into the fire. It’s all about risk and uncertainty. So how did Rothko square with himself the fact that, stripped to its basics, this commission was to create decorative work? At first, I think, by being very cynical about it, and placing this cynicism between himself and the question of whether he was, to put it bluntly, selling out. Eventually — and this is one of the reasons why Ken is pivotal (as foil…
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