“What do you see?”

You enter the theater. Everything is obscured by the dim lights and a rather thick layer of smoke. As you approach the stage that’s been turned into a messy studio, you see a man seemingly slouched on an Adirondack chair seemingly lost in thought.

That’s the thing about The Necessary Theatre’s production of "Red." Even before the play begins, it draws you into author John Logan’s world of late 1950s New York where celebrated abstract artist Mark Rothko is busy making studies of a series of paintings for a restaurant for the Manhattan bougie elite.

Enter Ken, the bright eyed new assistant hoping to learn from the master.

This isn’t the first time Bart Guingona, who also directs this play, has held Rothko’s paintbrush. As expected from one of the greats of Philippine theater, he gives justice to Rothko with all the intensity and swagger a self-absorbed artist could muster.

Mark Rothko was a real person, and Guingona avoids tropes and excesses that would make him a caricature of a raving madman.

JC Santos was a revelation. Seeing Santos' naïve Ken go toe to toe with Guingona, matching the veteran actor’s intensity beat for beat, was a pleasure to watch.

Holding the audience enraptured with just two people on stage is no mean feat. There were many highlights of the two men going at each other on stage. It was like a dysfunctional father-son/mentor-mentee relationship that just unraveled. From casual conversations over preparing a canvas, to full blown optimist versus cynic interpretations of color, to a spectacular performance of painting, the connection of the two men really carried this play from beginning to end.

Props to the production and lights designer for setting up Rothko’s messy studio that I thought could be a character on its own. Something as simple as shifting from incandescent yellow to fluorescent blue white, totally changes the character of the studio and the people within.

What did I see?

For me, "Red" seems to champion a return to a contemplative deliberate appreciation of art. It takes its time, with long moments of Rothko and Ken just staring out into the audience looking at a painting then discussing thoughts and feelings finding meaning (or not).

Rothko seems to be content to rant and rave inside his paint-smeared tower about everything and everyone in art scene, with more savage about the people who look at his paintings often dictating how the beholder should react and feel to the beauty he creates. When Rothko does step out of his tower and the beholders shatter his self-importance, he’s a broken man, and the way Guingona plays him, more grounded and human like the rest of us.

I’d say that the play advocates going out there and back to thoughtful appreciation of content in whatever form it may be.

Thus, in the many times during the play Rothko asks the young Ken, “What do you see?”, deliberate moments of silence follow and only then do the characters start giving their opinions.

It's a big contrast to the way music, stories, and art are consumed today, in 15-second bursts until the almighty algorithm takes over and feeds the next dopamine rush. Repeat ad nauseum.

"Red" isn’t that. It’s definitely not a forgettable 15-second reel. Rather, it’s a 90-minute contemplative roller-coaster of a play where one has to really pay attention.

It might not be for everybody, but for those who consume art in all its shapes, sizes, and sounds, and pause, even for just a bit, before the next one scrolls around, "Red" will give reasons to extend those pauses, and perhaps, open up conversations about perspective, art, and life.

"Red" runs at the PETA Theater in Quezon City until June 18.