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Rosebud at the WMC
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The award-winning one-man show ROSEBUD: The Lives of Orson Welles comes to the Weston Studio of the Wales Millennium Centre for five performances only, Saturday 31st March – Wednesday 4th April. Written by Cardiff-based Mark Jenkins (author of the internationally acclaimed PLAYING BURTON) and directed by Welshman Josh Richards (Royal Shakespeare Company), Rosebud is performed by Christian McKay, recently seen in Cardiff in Clwyd Theatr Cymru’s productions of MEMORY (Chapter Arts) and ARCADIA (New Theatre). These performances are prior to Rosebud’s return to New York City in May.
´ Behold, the Man! While still a youth, ORSON WELLES bestrides the world of movies, theatre and radio drama like a COLOSSUS! A giant of 20th century cinema. His achievements have forever changed the face of Radio, Theatre and Cinema.
´ At 21 he challenged conventional staging of Shakespeare as he premiered VOODOO MACBETH – with an all-black cast, reworking the classic as an everyday story of Harlem gang wars! Forcing New York cops to rope off seven blocks to control the eager crowds.
´ By age 23 he sparked national chaos as Americans fled to the hills in panic to escape a Martian invasion, having tuned into Welles’ ‘live newscast’ radio adaptation of THE WAR OF THE WORLDS!
´ He had Hollywood running scared when he picked a fight with the most powerful press baron in the world in his timeless movie classic, CITIZEN KANE. A dark, brooding study of the naked power of business, manipulating the world of politics, still rated THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER MADE.
But these career-defining triumphs all belong to his youth. They assured his iconic status in America – helped by his marriage to Rita Hayworth – but were followed by decades of struggle. Exiled from Hollywood, his ambitions continually thwarted by powerful enemies, he spent the rest of his life battling to find and fund outlets for his creative genius. Was he the author of his own misfortune? He was a man of myriad talents – magician, word-conjuror, actor, director, and producer – but we are as likely to remember him today as a gargantuan, almost laughable figure promoting the virtues of sherry on our television screens.
Christian McKay brings this giant figure of a man to pulsing life in ROSEBUD: THE LIVES OF ORSON WELLES, written by Cardiff-based Mark Jenkins (PLAYING BURTON) and directed by Welshman Josh Richards (PLAYING BURTON, TROY, Royal Shakespeare Company). Launched in the Assembly Rooms at the 2004 Edinburgh International Fringe Festival, ROSEBUD received immediate critical acclaim and was awarded THE SCOTSMAN FRINGE FIRST for innovation and outstanding new theatre writing and THE BEST OF EDINBURGH AWARD, before embarking on a U.K. and international tour.
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Wednesday, February 28, 2007 |
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