A heartfelt backstage drama about an aging understudy (Tom Rooney) who is thrust into the spotlight at the worst possible moment.
The Understudy
Theater
Red
Theater94 min2018PG
Inside a paint-stained studio, Alfred Molina delivers a towering performance as Mark Rothko, pacing before a blank canvas he is unable to begin. Stretched frames lean against the walls and open pigment tins clutter the floor as his new assistant, Ken (Alfred Enoch) watches, probes, and pushes the master artist with questions he cannot easily answer. This searing production of John Logan's Tony Award-winning play captures the volatile relationship between a visionary and his apprentice. Together, the two men physically battle with their medium, dragging deep red paint across a massive canvas to the roaring backdrop of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. The creative tension tightens as Rothko wrestles with his famous Seagram Mural commission, a corporate project he secretly intends to make hostile to its wealthy viewers. Molina brilliantly steps back into the iconic role he originally opened on Broadway, bringing a rare, bruising emotional depth to the stage. In a brilliant clash of generational perspectives, Red explores the heavy psychological toll of artistic compromise, proving that the true cost of creation always falls on the creator.