Orson Welles is rightly celebrated as a master of cinema and the artistic vision behind one of the greatest films of all time, but like his beloved Shakespeare’s best characters, he was an ultimately tragic figure. Raising Kane attempts the considerable feat of evaluating the great man in a very unique way.
Raising Kane mostly takes the form of a monologue by Orson Welles himself as he recounts his life and the choices, luck, and partnerships that led to the making of perhaps the most important film ever made, Citizen Kane. We learn of his time hustling as a young artist in Galway, through to his visionary work with Mercury Theatre in New York, to his deal with RKO to make a film for them with complete creative control.
It is incredibly difficult to write in such a way that captures the erudite wit of Orson Welles, but Raising Kane takes a decent stab at it. These kinds of shows often feel like someone reading out the subject’s Wikipedia entry, but the show is full of stories that not only delight but reveal something of the play’s vision of Welles. The performer David Shopland, whilst not a pitch perfect impression of Welles, captures something of his playful raconteur spirit, whilst letting the melancholy peer through when it needs to.
There are elements of the show I wasn’t sold on immediately, such as the idea of the play being performed in ‘black and white’, which is realised essentially by Shopland performing in grey gloves and silver make-up, and the use of anachronisms for comic effect. However, without giving too much away, there is a twist towards the end that clicks everything into place and transcends the play from just another theatrical biopic at the Fringe to something much more.
There could maybe have been more clues to the direction of the piece in order for the twist to pay off even more satisfyingly, but such a clever bait and switch in Raising Kane I’m sure would make the director of F for Fake himself proud.
