Queensland Theatre Company's Red would appear to embody everything its protagonists despise. Embattled New York artist Mark Rothko (Colin Friels) continually rails against humdrum psychoanalysis of artists and his protégé (Tom Barton) waxes lyrical endlessly about the necessity of passion – but Red itself paradoxically proves to be little more than an anaemic and ham-fisted attempt at artistic psychoanalysis.
John Logan's script is considered a classic, however, it's not actually that dramatic. It's little more than a series of laborious two-handed hypotheticals about the meaning of art, linked together with shouting matches and some heavy-handed motifs. As such, it falls to director and cast to try and bring some passion or conflict to proceedings. Unfortunately, they come up short.
Colin Friels is fun as Rothko but his transformation lacks soul. It's an impersonation as opposed to a character. Tom Barton's protégé is milquetoast. Alkinos Tsilimidos's direction feels non-existent. There's simply no drama. Audiences are frequently left wondering why they care about the play's events. It feels like all involved were relying on script to carry proceedings; forgetting that, without sculpting, it's basically a rough draft of a TED Talk.
QPAC Playhouse to Sunday 19 May
