Stage heavies in a new light

This much is certain. Orson Welles directed Laurence Olivier in a little-remembered production of Ionesco's "Rhinoceros" at London's Royal Court Theatre in 1960. At that time, Olivier was still married to Vivien Leigh , whom he would later divorce, and having an affair with Joan Plowright , whom he would later marry. Kenneth Tynan , the 20th century's foremost drama critic in English, was friends with both men.

Beyond that, who knows?

That hasn't kept Austin Pendleton from speculating about the whys, wherefores, and why nots surrounding such a memorable meeting of talents (and egos). All those individuals figure in Pendleton's play "Orson's Shadow."

The comedy has earned critical plaudits and been widely produced since being premiered by Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 2000. The New Repertory Theatre opens its production Wednesday, with Steven Barkhimer as Welles and Tuck Milligan as Olivier.

"These events did somewhat happen," said Adam Zahler , director of the New Rep production, in a telephone interview. "But no one knows what was said. So this isn't a biopic. If we can remind the audience of these people, if they feel comfortable and say, 'Oh, yes, that's Laurence Olivier,' they'll have fun."

Or, oh, yes, Orson Welles, agreed Barkhimer, also speaking by telephone. "They're terrific roles, and Austin's script is so acutely observed. You see it on the page that he's just nailed them."

Pendleton, 66, is best known as an actor and director. He was Motel the Tailor in the original Broadway production of "Fiddler on the Roof. " As both actor and director, he's been a mainstay of the Williamstown Theatre Festival for decades. His direction of the Broadway revival of "The Little Foxes" starring Elizabeth Taylor earned him a Tony nomination in 1981. Most recently, he was in last summer's Public Theater production of "Mother Courage" with Meryl Streep in the title role.

Yet Pendleton has also written three plays, "Booth " and "Uncle Bob, " as well as "Orson's Shadow."

"When I came into New York, in the early '60s," he said, "I thought I wanted to be a writer -- but there was a 30-year detour."

As part of that detour, he acted in the film version of "Catch-22, " playing Welles' s son-in-law.

"He was disruptive," Pendleton said of Welles. "It was a very high-pressure set, and Orson did what he could to undermine [director] Mike Nichols , because Orson had been rather public in the years since the book's publication that he wanted to direct the movie [version]."

Pendleton also had met another of the play's principals, Leigh. Even so, the play wasn't his idea. It started with Judith Auberjonois , the wife of actor Rene Auberjonois . Thinking a play about Olivier and Welles would prove an effective vehicle for her husband and Alfred Molina , she approached several playwrights. One of them, Wallace Shawn, urged her to contact Pendleton.

"At first, I didn't want to do it," Pendleton said. "But then I began to read about Orson and Larry and the idea took hold."

It was a fraught time for both Welles and Olivier. The ongoing difficulties Welles faced in getting financing for his various film and theatrical projects had begun to take a toll: on his work, his reputation, even (especially?) his physique. Olivier had recently triumphed on stage and screen as Archie Rice in John Osborne's "The Entertainer." But his personal life was in turmoil, and he was evolving from matinee idol to theatrical patriarch, which in a few years would lead to his helping found Britain's National Theatre .

A key figure at the National was Tynan, its first literary manager. Tynan brokers the Welles-Olivier partnership for "Rhinoceros" in the play.

"I went up a lot of blind alleys with this," Pendleton recalled of the writing process, which took several years. "And I thought this was probably unproduceable anyway. Then I thought I'd put in Kenneth Tynan, who knew both Olivier and Welles, though he wasn't involved in this production of 'Rhinoceros.' "

With Tynan on board as raisonneur, Pendleton was set for unfolding a clash of egos (between Welles and Olivier) and sexual rivalry ( Leigh and Plowright).

Still, he wasn't sure if he could pull it off. Pendleton did know he had an additional motivation to do so. "I think one of the first thoughts I had was, ' I'm not going to write this play, but if I do it'll partly be to come to peace with Orson. ' "

During the two weeks he and Welles were on the "Catch-22" set, Pendleton found himself both impressed and put off by him.

"He would sit with all of us, while they set up the next shot, and just hold forth. He was enchanting, and his opinions were, I think, deliberately provocative, and, intending to provoke us, he did. He was very funny and very delightful and outrageous. I loved all that, but I had a hard time acting with him. I thought, 'I've seen "Citizen Kane," but it doesn't justify all this.' "

In interviews at the time, Pendleton didn't hesitate to criticize Welles' s unprofessional behavior. He came to regret his frankness.

"I began to go to revival houses in New York and began to see some of his movies and think, 'My God, this man is a great artist.' So I always felt some guilt that I'd been this geek young actor around him, not respectful."

Pendleton's experience with Leigh was less complicated, if even briefer. Right out of Yale, in 1962, he had his first big acting success, in Arthur Kopit's "Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad. " Leigh was interested in playing the part of the mother in a London production. "She was very gracious, very kind, very courteous in a very warm way," Pendleton said.

One effect of "Orson's Shadow" is to remind people of the importance of the theater in Welles' s career. Before there was the hulking mass who used his Jehovah-speaks voice to sell Paul Masson wine and regale viewers of "Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts" -- before there was the bravura maverick director who made not only "Kane" but "The Magnificent Ambersons" and "Touch of Evil" and "Chimes at Midnight" -- there was the director who electrified the theater, setting "Macbeth" in Haiti and "Julius Caesar" in Fascist Italy.

As Welles laments in the play, "Am I to be remembered for one movie, which I directed from my highchair ?"

Zahler believes that in the characters' theatricality, and the playwright's, lies a key to the success of "Orson's Shadow."

"So much of Austin's love of this art is in the play," he said. "These people were of the world of the theater, and it just shows in a wonderful way. In fact, it means the cast, in a way that we don't usually do, find ourselves talking about our feelings about being in this business, our love of it, our love of the history of it and the glory of these people, our flawed giants."

Welles was a giant in several senses, of course. "Catch-22" was shot in the Mexican desert, where the sunlight is harsh and shadows deep. Did Pendleton take note of the size of Orson's?

"Big. One might say you could hardly see the sun. Very big."

Mark Feeney can be reached at mfeeney@globe.com.