Mark Rothko, Black on Maroon, Mural, Section 3 (1959), from “The Seagram Murals” via ArtInfo

From September 11 to October 14, 2012 the Belfry Theatre will present its new production of Red, the Tony Award-wining play by John Logan. Directed by Michael Shamata, Red stars Oliver Becker as painter Mark Rothko and Jameson Parker as Ken, his new assistant. Red is a co-production with the Manitoba Theatre Centre and will be performed in Winnipeg from October 31 – November 17, 2012.

Playwright John Logan is a celebrated screenwriter, having written screenplays for Any Given Sunday, Gladiator (Oscar nomination), The Aviator (Oscar Nomination), Star Trek: Nemesis, The Last Samurai, Hugo (Oscar nomination) and the film musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, for which he received a Golden Globe award. Logan co-wrote the script for the new James Bond film, Skyfall, which will be released in the fall.

Oliver Becker plays Mark Rothko in Red by John Logan / Photo by Peter Pokorny

Logan’s Red is a dynamic play, delving deeply into the mind and motives of American Abstract Expressionist painter Mark Rothko. The play takes place in 1958 – 59, when Rothko is at the height of his creative power. He has just received a commission (at the time the largest ever awarded to an artist) to paint a series of murals for the Four Seasons restaurant in the Seagram Building in New York.

Working with a young new apprentice and threatened by a new generation of painters (including Andy Warhol and Roy Lichenstein), Rothko, the aging lion, struggles to create a timeless masterpiece: paintings that will speak about the human condition for generations.

Fierce and uncompromising, Rothko clashes with Ken over history, fame, art and commercialism and their riveting battles are simply electrifying.

For tickets, click here. To find out more about this play, visit www.belfry.bc.ca/red/