The Necessary Theatre's RED

By: Andre Cruz

A Student Ambassador's Review

http://theatricalfellowship.blogspot.com/

Actor's Actor Inc.'s The Necessary Theater & DLS-CSB SDA's The Vito Cruz Project

present

The Asian Premiere of John Logan's Tony Award winning play

RED

Starring: Bart Guingona & Joaquin Valdes

Directed by: Bart Guingona

February 22 & 23, March 1 & 2, 2013

SDA Theater, DLS-CSB, 5th Floor, College of St. Benilde, School of Design & Arts, 

Pablo Ocampo St., Malate, Manila   

For tickets & inquiries, you may contact TicketWorld at 891-9999 or visit www.ticketworld.com.ph. If you're studying in Benilde, you may purchase tickets at the Red booth which can be found in the 9th Floor of the SDA Campus.

"There is only one thing I fear in life, my friend... One day the black will swallow the red."
RED is a play about art, artists, & a little of the different shades of red. Everything was perfectly crafted in this staging of Red. I was able to catch the preview night & never did I see any mistake. Everything went on smoothly. The play has no intermission which kind'a makes the play a challenging one. The set is really beautiful - It makes you forget that you're in a Theatre & transports you to the studio of Mark & Ken. That's one of the greatest things in live performances. The 2 leads, Bart Guingona & Joaqui Valdes gave their finest in this piece - Making the audience laugh & cry with the some life stories of their characters.

The Artists

BART GUINGONA (Mark Rothko) portrays his role excellently, as expected. He has appeared on various plays; having done productions with Repertory Philippines: THEY'RE PLAYING OUR SONG, TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE, NEXT FALL, among others, THE ATHEIST. He is also considered as one of the REP-Tiles (Actors who grew up with Repertory Philippines). Bart is also behind Actor Actor's Inc. (AAI) & The Necessary Theater (TNT).

JOAQUI VALDES (Ken) was a revelation in this play. I've seen him play Jack in New Voice Company's INTO THE WOODS & I think in Trumpets' THE LION, THE WITCH, & THE WARDROBE. But this is the first time I've seen him do a straight play. His Theatre credits include: PINOCCHIO (Repertory Philippines), ST. LOUIS LOVES DEM FILIPINOS (Dulaang UP), among others. He also has a solo album entitledJOAQUI: The Jazzanova Project. Indeed, Joaqui is a talented composer & a leading man of Philippine Theatre (or even abroad) in the making.

Actor's Actor, Inc.

AAI is composed of well-known Theater actors: BART GUINGONA, MENCHU LAUCHENGCO-YULO, ROSELYN PEREZ, CITA ASTALS, JAIME DEL MUNDO, DODO LIM, & WYLIN GERVACIO.
Like the official Fb page of AAI's The Necessary Theatre (TNT): https://www.facebook.com/TheNecessaryTheatre

Mark Rothko

Mark is an American abstract expressionist of Latvian American descent. In 1958, he was commissioned to paint a series of murals for the Four Seasons Restaurant in New York’s spanking new Seagram Building for what was then considered an astonishing amount of money. But just when he completes the work, he decides to withdraw them and return the money. He then donates the series to London’s Tate gallery and commits suicide.

RED

"RED is a brilliant exploration of the tension between art and commerce, the cycles of fashion and obsolescence, the dynamic between teacher and student." The entire plot is for you to find out when you watch the play.

Share-A-Scene

My favorite scene would be when Mark & Ken freely painted the canvas red; as the music's volume comes to a full. Pure art!