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Culture Stage

>>> Fringe Review: Orson Welles/Shylock

ORSON WELLES/SHYLOCK by Matt Chiorini. Factory Studio. July 3 at 8:15 pm, July 4 at 10:30 pm, July 6 at noon, July 7 at 4 pm, July 9 at 7:30 pm, July 10 at noon. Buy tickets. Rating: NNNNN


Thunderous applause greeted the cast of Orson Welles/Shylock after their opening night show, and it was well-deserved. The story of Welles’s obsession with The Merchant Of Venice, and particularly Shylock, is told in a frenzied 70 minutes by a four-actor cast who fling themselves into multiple roles, such as three male actors playing Welles at different stages of his life.

The life of this “difficult genius” doesn’t get glossed over we learn about his meteoric rise to Hollywood fame, his struggles with finishing films after Citizen Kane and his identification with Shylock’s outsider status.

This company from Syracuse, New York never wavers in their dedication to the story, whether employing spot-on accents when Welles begins filming in Italy, or making creative use of masks and shadows to mimic the many critics who wagged their fingers at Welles.

What may throw off the audience at first are the scripts the actors hold in their hands throughout the show, but those papers are smartly used as accessories in later scenes. Nothing is wasted, not even quotes by Welles himself. In fact, most of the play is told through interviews and Welles’s own statements, adding more authenticity to a docudrama that comes alive imaginatively onstage.

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