Orson's Shadow [B]

The first act was pedantic and emotionless - not a great start. This is a basically historical play about a production of Ionesco's "Rhinoceros", starring Laurence Olivier and directed by Orson Welles, and there is lots and lots of back-story to fill us (the audience) in on before the show can really start. If you view the entire first act as the preface, and the second act as "the play", then it's quite a nice evening's entertainment. Touching, historically interesting, and quite well acted. There was a little too much yelling for my tastes - perhaps this is the director's attempt to simulate the style of projecting in live theatre in that era.