Image copyright Johan Persson
The two AlfredsMolina and Enochstar in Red
Two actors. Two characters. One stage. One interval-free present. Copious quantities of crimson paint.
Those are the fundamental elements that make up Reda play about American artist Mark Rothkowhich has simply opened in the West End, almost a decade on from stints at London's Donmar and on Broadway.
Alfred Molina reprises his position as Rothko in the brand new manufacturinghowever, as an alternative of appearing reverse Eddie Redmayne as he did in 2009, there's a new face on stage this time.
The position of KenRothko's younger assistanthas been taken by Alfred Enoch, who is probably greatest often called Dean Thomas in seven of the eight Harry Potter movies.
"Fifty per cent of the cast has changed since the first production," laughs director Michael Grandage. "And we're additionally doing it now on a giant West End stage versus an intimate studio theatre.
"It appears to be a play which speaks to the concept of mentors and mentees, lecturers and pupils, fathers and sons.
"And it appears to be saying one thing that I've lengthy believed in, however no person ever talks about a lot, which is that the younger individual may give the older individual in that relationship as a lot info because the [older person can to the young].
"I think when we talk about a mentor, we assume everything goes in one direction, and this play rather brilliantly investigates the idea that when two people are in a room, one young and one old, both learn from each other."
From the advertising and outline of the present, it will be simple to imagine Red is simply a high-brow play about some good work.
But it has complexity at its core. Set over the course of two years in the late 1950s, the play sees the connection and dynamic between the 2 characters develop and alter a nice deal.
The Sorkin-esque quickfire dialogue is probably probably the most notable issues about John Logan's script.
"For me, it's not so much the amount of dialogue, it's the speed of thought of the characters," says Enoch.
"They think fast and they talk fast, and they can turn ideas on a sixpence. So it's a challenge just maintaining that mental energy, that nimbleness."
Added to which, there's a nice deal of bodily motion for a play completely set in Rothko's studio.
"That's one of the exciting things about this play, that as much as it's this thrilling exchange between two bright people, it also shows you what it is physically to be an artist, to be in the studio, mixing paint, stretching the canvas, making a frame, all that happens on stage," Enoch says.
The actor says it was tough to grasp the craft of being an artistwhereas having intense conversations on the identical time. "There's a lot of stuff!" he says.
"So it was quite a lot to get the hang of because you're doing these two things at the same time, because that's what these characters are capable of, they're fluent in both of them."
Molina, who has starred in Chocolat, An Education and Feud: Bette and Joan, says his important cause for returning was "getting to work with a fantastic actor, in a beautiful theatre, and doing it in the West Endwhich was really a bit of unfinished business".
The actor says the connection on the core of the play was what initially attracted him to the present.
"These are very bright men who can talk and think very quickly, and they're not afraid of their thoughts. They don't think twice because they don't have to think twice," he says.
"They're so positive about what they consider and the way they understand issues, and that is why there's this glorious pressure between them.
"It starts off with Rothko being a bit of a bully, telling Ken this is the way things are, and then of course the relationship changes and Ken starts to evolve and become his own person, and he then can challenge Rothko on his own terms."
Ann Treneman awarded the brand new manufacturing 5 stars in her evaluate for The Times.
"Michael Grandage directs and, at 90 minutes straight through, he builds up the layers, not unlike the paint on a Rothko canvas, until you care deeply about both men," she wrote.
"The connection only gets more powerful. The themes of student and teacher, father and son pulsate along with those paintings on stage. What do we see? Red, of course, but in the best possible way."
The present additionally acquired four-star opinions from The Independent, Time Out and The Radio Times.
The Telegraph stated: "Just as we're inspired to understand there is not any such factor as a primary wash of colorall the pieces requires contemplationso there is not any such factor as an easy debate about artwork.
"The eveningonly 90 minutesserves as a fascinating biographical footnote but pivots into something more profound and probing."
The Stage's Natasha Tripney was extra lukewarm in her three-star evaluate, writing: "The immense convenience of Ken's murdered parents as a plot point, the red of their blood staining his memory, feels even more contrived on second viewing."
But she praised Enoch, saying: "He brings a fully totally different vitality to the manufacturing.
"He's a warmer presence than Redmayne was and he reframes some of the play's discussion about, say, the symbolism of blackness in art. He invigorates the play, while also making its limitations apparent."
Red is on the Wyndham's Theatre in London till 28 July.