English Language Premiere!*
2004 Masque Award for Best Production In Montreal!

Everybody's Welles, a multi-media, solo performance by co-writer/director, Patrice Dubois, is about a meek Quebecois film scholar whose life and career are altered by his experience of Welles's films. It is a piece of theatre that takes up the recurring themes in Welles's life and oeuvre, notably the student/teacher relationship and the search for one's individual identity within greater society. One could also say that this production draws a portrait of American society from 1915, the year of Welles's birth, until today. Everybody's Welles does not pretend to be a definite biography of Orson Welles but rather a theatre docudrama, an evocative homage to Welles, where fact and fiction blur.

Did you know?
The famed first voice of "The Shadow" in the celebrated crime series belonged to Orson Welles.

By
Patrice Dubois
Martin Labrecque

In coproduction with Le Théâtre PàP

Du 5 au 19 mars 2006
Billetterie : (514) 739-7944

 

by Geneviève Germain

"The word genius was whispered into my ear the first thing I ever heard while I was still mewling in my crib, so it never occured to me that I wasn't until middle age!"

Excerpt from: Orson Wells - A Biography by Barbara Leaming

Was Orson Welles one of the greatest artists of the movie and theatre industries, among others, of the 20th century ? Or was he simply an exhuberant, somewhat self-centered but still visionary man ? It depends on your view on this question. What we can thruthfully say is that he remains an enigma to this day. After acting and directing in Dublin theatre, he shook the radio broadcasting industry by adapting a version of The war of the worlds by H.G. Wells : his fiction seemed so real that the broadcast sent thousands of people into panic. Promised to a brilliant carreer he directs his first film, Citizen Kane, while he is still in his twenties. However, for obscure reasons, or outdriven by America’s stiff standards, he exiles himself to Europe and starts number of projects and movies, most of which will be left unfinished. 

Trying to reconstruct this odd man’s path of life is not an easy task. Words cannot resume what or who Orson Welles really was. But maybe images, sounds, ambiance and recollection of certain events can give a certain idea on how this man was and on the essence of the works he has left for us to discover. Patrice Dubois and Martin Labrecque have created a play that transports us directly into Welles’ particular universe. Narrator and sole actor of this story, if we exclude the non-speaking « shadow » Stéphane Franche, Patrice Dubois invites us to a conference on Welles. It is « pour tous » or « for all » : you do not need to know Welles to enjoy the show, the narrator will lead you into his own story and the one of his mentor.

What is truly striking about this play is all the scenography in which it takes place. What we believe at first to be a black chalkboard becomes a second screen and stage where the narrator’s stories sometimes take form,  and where he himself becomes part of Welles’ story while impersonating different characters. Lighting is used with great care : creating shadows, reminding us of old movie theatres, focusing on different actions. Lighting becomes an important aspect of this presentation, which is really beautifully fascinating to see.

Patrice Dubois holds this play together with a great amount of energy and a stunning faculty to go from being a reserved conference speaker to becoming part of Welles action-filled universe.

However, the play brings us so much information that it can be overwhelming at times. Then again, that just may be what we must remember from Welles : intricate works full of splendor that may be confusing at times but that still remain very attractive. But I might be wrong. The best solution must be to see for ourselves , for this play leads us to want to know more about its protagonist.

13-03-2006