Back to the Human in John Logan’s “Red”

What is it about?

Mark Rothko, abstract expressionist painter, had the premise to representate the basic human emotions: tragedy, ecstasy and doom. Rothko believed that each painting is an experience. John Logan inspired by Rothko's forms and colors, wrote the laurate play "Red", which leads to question current human pragmatism and environmental insensitivity. Based on the ecocritics theory and with the tool of semiotic methodology named “Dramatology”, this paper describes dramatic strategies of “Red” that raise audience awareness and looks foward to connect the reader with his sensitive thought, enriching any art experience. The theatrical performance, changes the common experience of just be sitting at the theatre as an observer, because in the stage, the main character elaborates a large-format frame and applies red paint on a canvas that stimulates the audience´s senses, breaking theatrical illusion; you become part of this artwork. Man must have bread to live, but also have to awake his emotional side. So, how you can back to the human?

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