The Eyes of Orson Welles opens at the IFI on Friday 17th.

Join us for free films from the IFI Irish Film Archive. Simply collect tickets at IFI Box Office. 

ORSON AROUND

Orson Welles made his theatrical debut on the Gate Theatre state in 1930 at the age of 16 and so began a life-long friendship with the Gate’s founder Hilton Edwards and Micheál Mac Liammóir (both of whom he cast in his 1952 version of Othello).

PROGRAMME 1: RETURN TO GLENNASCAUL / ORSON WELLES GHOST STORY 

Introduced by a bemused Orson Welles (on a break from filming Othello), this story, set in the foothills of the Dublin Mountains, tells of a man’s encounter with an ethereal young woman and her mother.

FILM INFO: Hilton Edwards, 1951, 23 mins, Black and White

PROGRAMME 2: HAMLET AT ELSINORE

Film of the Gate Theatre visit Denmark in 1952 with a production of Hamlet follows the cast through rehearsal and performance in Dublin. (Welles had appeared in an earlier Gate production of Hamlet in Woodstock, US in 1934).

Film Info: Hilton Edwards, 20 mins, 1952, Black and White

Notes by Sunniva O’Flynn