By RAY KELLY
It’s a busy and exciting time for Joel Pettigrew, the writer-director-producer of Mercury Man: The Last Performance of Orson Welles.
Following months of rehearsals and a successful preview in Toronto, Pettigrew’s play will debut at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival on July 18-29. (It has already received a thumbs up from the Toronto Fringe New Play Jury, which said it boasted an “interesting concept, good pacing, great dialogue”.)
Mercury Man takes place days before Welles’ death in October 1985 as he is recording the role of Unicron in the animated Transformers: The Movie. Welles (Rod McTaggart) meets his “Biggest Fan” and recounts his early success in movies, theater and radio, as well as the aftermath of making Citizen Kane, and sacrifices he made along the way.
Pettigrew took time to field a few questions about what went into creating Mercury Man.
What inspired you to choose Welles’ work on Transformers: The Movie as a starting point for your play?
Primarily because it was something I hadn’t seen before. There are many people, even Welles fans, who don’t know about his last ever film role. If mentioned, it is usually a tidbit of Welles trivia, but I don’t see it really explored in-depth.
In general Welles’ life lends itself excellently to drama; the man and his exploits are nigh Shakespearean, and the dramatic irony of the director of “The Greatest Movie of All Time,” having his last ever film role be essentially a commercial for Japanese toys, is a set-up just to good not to explore. It got me wondering, “What did Welles think of his own work and his legacy at the end of his life, and all he went through in trying to tell the stories he did?” You look at some of the interviews and at times he seems content, others weary, bitter and tired, but you get the impression that he’d never stop, even if he wanted to. He couldn’t.
This scenario gave me an opportunity to explore not just what Welles went through, but what anyone pursuing their passion must give up in order to do what they were made for. This larger aspect, beyond just Welles himself, was really the reason for writing this play. This play is about anyone who is longing for, striving and sacrificing in order to do what it is that fuels them, and Welles’ real experiences and struggles, really help to bring this idea home and give the matter more weight. By doing this play, I’ve found more and more people who relate to the idea that passion is as much an addiction and compulsion as it is a liberation. This hits home for a lot of people.
Starting here also provided me an opportunity to look back, as Welles does in the play, and reflect on the early days of his career. Looking back at those early days helps me to better understand where Welles ended up. You’re not just seeing the early days of the Mercury Theatre, the kinetic energy, the hectic pace, the excitement, and the whirlwind of being young, hungry to tell stories, unencumbered and unstoppable. You’re seeing as it is being remembered and reflected upon. As Welles looks back, so does the audience, there is romance to those early triumphs, but there is also longing, and regret. To have almost absolute creative freedom so early in your life, and then to never really be able to reach that same level of expression again, you have to wonder what that must have felt like.
How long did you work on Mercury Man? How has it evolved?
The play was first performed as a 30-minute short play as part of a radio drama festival in 2009 in Toronto, Canada. Basically, we had actors performing in font of music stands like they did in the early days of radio, and that was it.
Ninety percent of the dialogue is different now; after a decade of doing anything you tend to get better at doing it, and as I’ve grown as a writer, so to have the characters and story. It was a completely different beast originally, there were no flashbacks, major character’s were absent: there was no younger Welles, no John Houseman, whose relationship with Welles is one which really emphasizes for me just what it was Welles was sacrificing in order to make his art. Many ancillary characters were absent, there were no live sound effects, no animation, no specialized makeup or, really, any costumes. It is a completely different show now, one which more completely, and with greater depth, explores the story, themes and characters. I always wanted a more complete exploration of Welles’ life and career, and I think I’ve managed to do that with this play.
What were your primary sources of information?
I don’t know if there was one more significant than the others, but there have been many. Books, articles, interviews, documentaries, and Welles’ films themselves. A crucial source was Harlan Lebo’s book, a must read for any Welles or Kane fan; it really put the chronology of the making of Kane into perspective for me. But the most important I would have to say was an episode of The Shadow, I heard in the eighth grade which, among other things, inspired me to make my own parody radio drama called The Blank, on a cassette tape, and sparked my now life-long fascination with Welles.
What do you think audiences will walk away thinking about Orson Welles?
Quite possibly, anything. What Welles said of Hollywood, can also be said of Welles: it’s all true, anything you can say about the man, good or bad, it’s true.
He spoke of people as a walking series of contradictions, a sentiment he embodied. A master manipulator who would lie, cheat and swindle to get exactly what he wanted, as well as a staunch advocate who would fund his projects and pay his staff out of his own pocket. He would fight for certain artists to get recognition, while actively trying to discredit others entirely. That is how I see Welles. Someone within whom there is much to admire, and revile.
Welles created film, radio and theatre history, but often at the expense of those closest to him. At the end of the day, you have to ask yourself, was it worth it? And would I, if given the chance, make the same sacrifices, in order to do what it is I am compelled to do? After our preview night, an audience member told me that she was next going to go and watch Citizen Kane for the first time. As a theatre maker, that’s all you can hope for, that after seeing your show the audience is moved enough to dig deeper. It is one of the highest compliments I’ve ever gotten.
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