Bright Lucifer

[Oliver Oddball]

I was wondering where I can find the script for the play 'Bright Lucifer" written by Orson Welles?

[Alan Brody]

Welles's original, hand-typed manuscript of Bright Lucifer is at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

What is the nature of evil?

Almost 60 years ago, Orson Welles wrote a three-act play, "Bright Lucifer," examining the subject. But nobody ever got to see it. Within weeks of finishing his draft, Welles made his infamous Halloween broadcast of "War of the Worlds," propelling thousands into a panic. Just a few months after that, he signed on with RKO Radio Pictures, and -- at the age of 25 -- wrote, produced, and directed "Citizen Kane," regarded by many a film buff as the finest motion picture ever made.

The rest, as they say, is history. With other projects in the works, "Bright Lucifer" was tucked away and forgotten.

[Wellesnet]

17 years ago today, Orson Welles's stageplay BRIGHT LUCIFER had it's world premiere performance in Madison, WI; 12 years after Welles's death and nearly 60 years after it was written:
http://www.wellesnet.com/?p=10586

[Wellesnet]

From Aleksandra Jovicevic's dissertation, "The Theatre of Orson Welles":

Welles introduces the problem of an actor's identity. On the empty stage, lit only by moonlight, the petrified Jack is still in costume, but without his mask. In a state of shock, he questions himself and Eldred: "What do I look like? I wonder who I am. Can't tell without a mirror." Eldred, however, has no difficulty defining his own role: he is the host and master of ceremonies.

The structure of the play can also be seen as a triangular relationship between actor- director-spectator, not only because Eldred intrigues between Bill and Jack and uses one against the other, but also because if Jack is an actor and Eldred a manager and director, Bill is the ultimate spectator, who is destroyed by an illusion.

The relationship between Eldred and Jack also reflects the relationship between Faustus and Mephistopheles. Like Mephistopheles, Eldred promises a brilliant future to his own Faustus, Jack: "I show you all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time./And I say unto you, all this power will I give thee, and the glory of them:/for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will give it. He even promises Jack an immortal soul: "If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine." Eldred plans to be the impresario for Jack, the first professional ghoul: "I'm going to cash in on a superstition— a dark idea in the world."

[Wellesnet]

New production of "Bright Lucifer" in London this November:
http://www.wellesnet.com/orson-welles-p ... -premiere/

[tadao]

Thanks so much for posting this! Ironic but very 'now' that I learn of the Welles-related shows in my own city from the World Wide Web and not anything London-based! Like Lost Musicals' Around the World and Southwark Theatre's Orson's Shadow I'm surprised and delighted to hear something in my field is going on here!
I helped out on a show at The White Bear some 10 years back, 'Off-West End' (and http://offwestend.com) is quite a push, London fringe theatre is much more dispersed than anything adjacent to New York's Great White Way! Not even Off-Off-Off-Broadway parallels the distance to SE11, but there's plenty of excellent and innovative work done nonetheless by small companies out in unglamourous pub-theatres all over the capital. Curious to hear of the refurbishment, $1.7m is around £1.3m these days; that might represent the purchase price of a building in that vicinity or a complete reconstruction of a site to create pricey appartments, but surely hasn't been spent on the 'theatre' (the large back-room of a bar last time I was there).
I'm very pleased to learn of this production though and so excited to be able to see this show!

[Wellesnet]

You're welcome, Tadeo. Please let us know how it is if you go.

[tadao]

While Googling for a link to the London production the other day I came across a link to a casting call for the show. The live post had expired, but it's still held in Google's cache:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Yp5B5-NgJWYJ:www.mandy.com/procasting/364942/orson_welles_bright_lucifer/+&cd=18&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk

Might be unfair to look behind the curtain this way to get a preview of the production's 'angle', but it gives some clues about the initial directorial spur. Some of the sensationalist buzzwords don't strike me as something that could have predominated in a 1930s production or anything that we'd recognise as 'Wellesian', although some of it resonates with The Big Brass Ring. It sounds like they're aiming to foreground a sexual element between the guardian and the ward; not being familiar with the text I don't know how overt this idea is in the play. They state that this theme will be worked out in rehearsal so possibly it will end as a more understated, subtextual element than the broadly drawn character descriptions suggest. Reading the description I hypothesised that they see the text as inspired by Welles's then recent experience with MacLiammoir and Edwards whose interest might not have been without a sexual element, and the young man's manipulation of that appeal, together with the guardianship of Bernstein and Hill which I'd always interpreted as idealising talent and reflected glory rather than anything inappropriate and less than savoury. In looking into this now on the net, I found the following in a detailed article by Steve Vertlieb (that doesn't seem to cite the source of the information):

Upon the untimely death of his mother, Orson accompanied Dr. Bernstein on a summer European tour.

After the trip, Bernstein moved his offices to Highland Park, both entertaining and treating respected artists, journalists and musicians. He would adoringly display his most prized "possession," the young prodigy whose company and affection he jealously coveted.

[...]

In the Fall of 1925, Dr. Bernstein conspired with Richard Welles to find ten-year-old Orson some formal education. They sent him to Madison, Wisconsin, where he was interviewed and examined by Dr. Frederick Mueller. Mueller placed the lad in his boy's club, Camp Indianola, where Orson wrote, directed and starred in a hasty production of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, performed for the other children serving time for the summer.

Mueller, however, found the boy darkly beautiful, and made sexual advances toward him. Orson later wrote that this had become a recurring problem. "From my earliest childhood, I was the Lillie Langtry of the older homosexual set. Everybody wanted me."

Whether these inclinations were provoked or invited by the youngster remains unclear. Yet, well into his adulthood and legendary association with producer, John Houseman, the celebrated dissolution of the their partnership seemed rooted in Houseman's sexual longing for the younger actor.

[...] [On MacLiammoir and Edwards] He performed in several plays for the duo but grew quickly bored and left Ireland for the bull fighting rings of Madrid, Spain. With his dark good looks and hypnotic voice, he had little trouble attracting sponsors, either male or female.

http://www.viewzone.com/orson.html

My instinct says by Welles's time in Ireland he could look after himself on this front, but I'm bothered by the potential attribution of inappropriate sexual pursuit on the subject of that interest, especially regarding someone very much underage per the statement about Mueller and Welles's comment about 'earliest childhood'. The production may have textual prerogative to examine this angle. Welles seems matter-of-fact on about it. I'm interested to see how the show examines this, and whether a contemporary viewpoint is at odds with what he wrote in 1932.

I'd planned to see the show with my parents when they visit this week but worried about it feeling somewhat uncomfortable based on the synopsis I'm inclined to see it alone instead!

[Le Chiffre]

I saw the Madison production in 1997. At least in that production, the relationship between the adolescent Eldred Brand and his guardian Bill is pretty suggestive, but not explicit.

[tadao]

Unfortunately the production at The White Bear appears to have been called off. The booking website, which had listed the performance dates with an instruction to contact the theatre, now lists all dates as cancelled. I couldn't ascertain with a quick web search whether any performances actually took place; I can't find any reviews, even amateur 'capsule' mentions of anyone having attended so for the moment I'll assume it was never finally staged. I hope the company will be able to mount the production somewhere at a future date. References appear to have been quietly removed from the White Bear website and I haven't found any discussion or announcement of the cancellation. Another Welles project, which appears to be 'lost' to us once again, at least for the moment...

[Le Chiffre]

That's too bad. I hope it wasn't due to poor ticket sales.

[Colmena]

There was a problem with fire safety, and so the production has been postponed to some time in 2017.

https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2016/re ... -concerns/