Francesco Frongia on Directing John Logan's 'Red' and the Gaze of Rothko

In an essay for Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, director Francesco Frongia reflects on his 2013 staging of John Logan's play 'Red' at Teatro dell'Elfo in Milan. The play, translated by Matteo Colombo, centers on Mark Rothko and his assistant Ken during the 1958-1959 commission for the Four Seasons restaurant in the Seagram Building, designed by Philip Johnson and Mies van der Rohe. Frongia emphasizes that the core of the production was not biographical but experiential: to recreate the conditions of looking at Rothko's paintings. The set reconstructed Rothko's studio at 222 Bowery, New York, and the director chose to paint the stage canvases himself rather than use reproductions, to understand Rothko's method. Ferdinando Bruni played Rothko, and Alejandro Bruni played Ken. The play explores Rothko's contradictions: his desire to create a 'temple' for contemplation versus the commercial context of a luxury restaurant. A key monologue references Rothko's visit to Michelangelo's Biblioteca Laurenziana in Italy, which inspired his aspiration to create an emotionally charged space. The production ended with Rothko's withdrawal from the Four Seasons commission. Frongia's essay is published alongside the exhibition 'Rothko a Firenze' at Palazzo Strozzi and the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence, 2026.