Clash of the Titans

Here's the preview article I wrote about an upcoming Portland production of Austin Pendleton's acclaimed play Orson' s Shadow. The show runs from May 22 to July 1 at Artists Repertory Theatre.

In 1960 two of the greatest screen and theater legends of the twentieth century collaborated on a London stage production, and quickly discovered that the spotlight is only big enough for one egomaniacal genius.
Still riding on the fumes of fame from his 1941 classic Citizen Kane, Orson Welles agreed to direct Laurence Olivier in Eugène Ionesco’s absurdist play Rhinoceros. Playwright Austin Pendleton envisions the catty exchanges that ensued in Orson’s Shadow, the biting comedy that brings Artists Repertory Theatre’s season to a close. ART’s Associate Artistic Director Jon Kretzu helms the show.
“It was a marriage made someplace in hell,” says Kretzu, who is gay. “They were both used to getting their own way.”
Olivier’s lover and Rhinoceros co-star Joan Plowright also figures prominently in Orson’s Shadow, along with British theater critic Kenneth Tynan and Oliver’s mentally ill wife Vivien Leigh. Todd Van Voris and David Carey Foster lead the cast as Welles and Olivier, respectively.
Though the play contains no explicit gay content, Kretzu explains why it should have plenty of appeal for queer audiences. “Anytime there’s a play about theater folk there’s a certain gay sensibility,” he says. “This is one of the best cocktail parties you can be at. The gay audience will have a field day.”
On a juicier level, just about every celebrity depicted in the play is rumored to have indulged in same-sex escapades. In reference to Olivier’s sexuality, playwright and musician Noel Coward said he possessed “a puppy-like acquiescence to all experiences.” Some biographers have speculated that Olivier had an affair with entertainer Danny Kaye, but these claims are meagerly substantiated.
“Vivien Leigh supposedly had her share of lesbian experiences,” Kretzu says. “She pretty much screwed anything that breathed.”
He adds that Welles - who had three wives including Rita Hayworth – is rumored to have done some switch-hitting in his younger days.
Pendleton captures these icons at crossroads, collaborating on a play none of them likes in the hopes that it will lead to film deals. “It’s a remarkable and clever play,” Kretzu says. “It’s so dangerous to write about these people, and on top of that it could easily have been just a string of in-jokes.”