ON STAGE
Red
Where: Belfry Theatre
When: Opens tonight, continues through Oct. 14
Tickets: $25 to $50 (250-385-6815)
It doesn't sound like artist Mark Rothko - the subject of the Belfry Theatre's new biodrama - was the nicest guy in the world.
Tonight, the Belfry (in collaboration with Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre) opens its production of Red, John Logan's Tony Award-winning play. The 90-minute work zeroes in on a crucial chapter in Rothko's life - his commission to create murals for a restaurant in Manhattan's Seagram Building in 1958-59.
Rothko was reputedly a cantankerous intellectual who once declared he hoped his boldly abstract murals would put well-heeled diners off their food. And then he decided he didn't want the restaurant to house his paintings. So Rothko returned his $35,000 fee - the equivalent of $280,000 today.
He sounds like, well - a miserable old contrarian. Yet this week, Stratford actor Oliver Becker, who plays Rothko in Red, seemed prepared to defend the artist from any such criticisms.
"I guess you could say that about most geniuses," Becker said. "They're just temperamental about what they want."
Rothko, who committed suicide in 1970, was a leading abstract expressionist, part of a postwar movement that included Robert Motherwell, Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock. While admired, these artists also attracted criticism for their non-representational paintings that, to some observers, appeared to require little technical skill. (In this country, the National Gallery of sa国际传媒 sparked public controversy with its 1989 purchase of Voice of Fire by abstract expressionist Barnett Newman - essentially, a single red stripe against a bluish background.)
Red playwright Logan is also a screenwriter whose credits include co-writing Skyfall, the upcoming James Bond film, and the Academy Award-nominated Gladiator (2000). In Red, which premi猫red in London three years ago, Rothko is fictitiously paired up with a young assistant, Ken, played in Victoria by Jameson Parker. While Rothko assumes a mentor/father role, much of the play revolves around their verbal sparring, especially when Ken reveals his passion for the new breed of pop artists, such as Andy Warhol.
Becker, who wore an orange tuque and a Bowron Lakes Park shirt, said the character of Rothko is dominated by his preoccupation with mortality and a fear of being forgotten. "It's just that he had a general awareness of time closing in on him. One of the things I read [was that] he felt the weight of the world because people just didn't get his art," he said.
While Becker has a Rothko-like balding pate, and has studied documentaries about the artist, he makes no special attempt to mimic the artist. He is, after all, an actor, not an impersonator.
"Do I try to actually encapsulate Mark Rothko? No. What we try to do is just serve the play the best we can, what's being said, what the playwright originally intended."
At 52, Becker has established himself as a Canadian actor of note. He's done three seasons at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and two with Shaw Festival Theatre. He's acted in such TV shows as Due South and The Republic of Doyle, and was a regular in The Line, a Canadian series created by playwright George F. Walker.
Growing up in Vancouver, Becker originally aspired to be an artist. He studied at Emily Carr University of Art with dreams of becoming a sculptor.
"I quit after two years because I didn't want to be a starving artist. But no I still am. So it's kind of a joke," Becker said, laughing.
Acting was always an interest. Becker's father was a hair stylist whose clientele included many actors. One friend was Bill Millard, the artistic director of the Vancouver Arts Club Theatre. Millard used to give the family free tickets to plays. These performances made a lasting impression on young Becker.
Becker said he has no immediate acting gigs following Red. But after a lifetime in the trade, he's used to the uncertainty of showbiz.
"Sometimes I think, where's the next job coming from? But it always seems to happen," he said.
