Images Estate of André Kertész, courtesy Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto © 2021
Available for World Premiere
Synopsis
In the mid-1980s André Kertész walks the streets of an urban area. He is in his early eighties and unsteady. He stops to understand a voice he hears, an unseen interviewer asking him questions. He feebly answers the questions with disjointed, almost rote answers. He is agitated and eagerly enters his apartment, slamming the door. He calls for a woman. She is nowhere to be found as he anxiously asks for her help in answering the questions and telling the story of his life. He imagines he is in front of a crowd lined up for his autograph. (THEY WANT TO KNOW) A woman (Elizabeth, his wife) appears and begins to tell his story of his early love of photography and family life in Hungary. Her presence and support free him to do some sharing of his own. (LIGHT / PERFECT and LIGHT / ART) The interview questions resume with rising intensity, digging deeper into André’s creative process. André anxiously prompts Elizabeth to continue her answers. She refuses, leaving him to his own devices as she exits the stage. André enters a darkroom and tenderly reveals his profound connection to his work. As the photograph in his developing tray comes to life in front of him, a projection of the work dramatically takes form onstage. (THIS IS HOW I TELL YOU)
(Projections of Kertész’s photographs continue to punctuate and underscore the production. They become almost a third onstage character.)
Elizabeth returns to tell about his experiences in the war and his thrilling solo move to Paris. (LIGHT / WAR and LIGHT / PARIS) André is in the swell of the arts movement in Paris in the mid-1920s. At a popular café, he revels in receiving the endorsement and support of his new friends, both emerging and established artists. (THIS IS HOW I TELL YOU reprise) Years later, Elizabeth eventually joins him in Paris and they marry. His impetuous neediness is a curious match for her dominating nature. (MARRIAGE I) André’s work moves into a bold experimental phase, perhaps motivated by the tilted political world and the rise of Nazism. (DISTORTIONS) The world is indeed changing. The signs are everywhere, Elizabeth notes and André senses. (LIGHT / FADING) Elizabeth has decided it is imperative they leave Paris and head for New York. Europe is becoming increasingly dangerous for Jews and artists. André strongly resists. (MARRIAGE II)
André and Elizabeth move to New York. André is frustrated as he navigates the daunting skyscrapers and closed professional doors. (THIS CITY) Elizabeth becomes a successful businesswoman, satisfying her love of niceties through her own income while frustrated but firm in her love for André and his work. (NICE THINGS) André becomes entrapped for decades to come in commercial fashion and design photography. His creative genius thwarted; his unhappiness grows. (THIS IS HOW I TELL YOU 2nd reprise) Elizabeth is having none of his self-pity and remorse and they find themselves at a crossroads. (MARRIAGE III) Sick with having sold himself out for the bulk of his career, André quits the commercial scene. (HOUSE & GARDEN)
Reworking his entire body of photography, André passionately and relentlessly dedicates himself to gaining the recognition he feels he deserves. His career is catapulted into new heights. He is stunningly transported to the French countryside unearthing a chest of his earliest photographs hidden from the Nazi’s by a friend. He is sweetly transported to his beloved Paris at a fresh solo show of his work. He is carried away to Venice where he receives the Venice Biennale Gold Prize. From New York Elizabeth directs and cheers him on, excitingly planting seeds for their permanent return to Paris. (LA RÉUNION)
As all their dreams are finally coming to fruition, fate cruelly intervenes as Elizabeth dies within months of learning she has cancer. (LIGHT / DARKNESS) André is crushingly alone, devastated and speechless as music and projections of Elizabeth convey the depths of his grief. (MARRIAGE IV)
The beginning of CLICK! is revisited as André walks the streets of New York in a trench coat, a barely functioning 80-year-old-man who is lost and floundering in the throes of sadness. Repeatedly drawn to a compelling object in a store window, he purchases the object which for him has an uncanny resemblance to Elizabeth. (GLASS BUST STORY) The interviewer is again heard asking him questions. André listens deeply but offers no response. Returning to his apartment, his solitude and anger overwhelm him until the stars outside the window offer some ethereal comfort. (THROUGH THE WINDOW)
André resigns himself to staying inside his apartment. He eventually uses a Polaroid camera, a gift from a friend, neglected until now, to photograph cherished objects around the room. The day’s dramatic changes in the light through his New York apartment windows and Elizabeth’s presence through the glass bust inspire him and ignite his spirit. He slowly reclaims his passion and joy. A photograph of the glass bust gradually develops before André’s and the audience’s eyes. (I’VE COME INSIDE / COME UP) The interviewer perseveres. André answers with real clarity now, basking at last in his long-awaited international acclaim though it’s bittersweetly realized in Elizabeth’s physical absence. He has found his voice again as his love of photography resurfaces and transforms him. Click, says André, is the potent chemistry between two people. Click is knowing the precisely perfect moment to take the photograph. And click is the moment when everything you’ve worked for your whole life comes into focus. André turns upstage to face Elizabeth, her penetrating gaze with him forever.