Sleeping Dog Theatre from Ottawa specialises in bringing to stage life the histories of extraordinary individuals and using them to explore underlying themes of interest to us all, pointing up lessons from the past and raising the questions we need to ask of it.

In bringing from the shadows the dealings of Elmyr de Hory, the most prolific art forger of the twentieth century, Pierre Brault has come up with a fascinating study. At the same time, he raises questions about all art and about the nature of deception.

Things could become very deep and philosophical then, but the solo piece is craftily set in de Hory’s last hours. Bailed up by the police, he bargains for privacy overnight, by sketching the inspector’s likeness and promising a full confession. His last signature will be his own.

From his beginnings as a struggling artist in Paris, the Hungarian born refugee has a roller coaster existence. He consorted, he tells us, with the ‘wild beasts’ of colour, the Fauves, headed by Matisse and confirmed by Vlaminck. The works of Picasso, Braque, Modigliani are sources for his talented replication.

The first line, he tells us, is the most important. For his life as a forger, the first line is drawn when Lady Malcolm Campbell, avaricious collector, mistakenly snaps up some ‘masterly’ sketches and sells them on to a dealer for a handsome profit. The hard-up de Hory, allowing the illusion to stand, is suddenly presented with a career which will take him around the art capitals of world, sometimes just ahead of discovery.

At every turn, gently probing questions keep the thematic interest before us. "Everyone loves an impostor," according to Orson Welles, quoted in the play, and there are many references excusing, at least partly, the great deceptions we follow. "All art is on loan," we are told, and "I become, I do not copy." Besides, it takes two to come to a bargain and greed is often the catalyst which clouds vision.

Pierre Brault is no mere apologist however. The life he depicts has ultimately been lived at the expense of finding his own way. Elmyr de Hory’s ‘fame’ around the world comes on the strength of borrowed signatures. Brault the actor is mesmerising and the creation of character after character an amazing feat of illusion in itself. He is a master of transition with the physical and vocal dexterity demanded by this exacting genre.

Inspired under-floor lighting from Martin Conboy features to focus and amplify each sequence, with the art world cleverly suggested at the feet of the master forger. The final ‘canvas’ is blank, confirming that though the story has been told, truth about art is not so neatly captured. 
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