Adaptor: Sebastian Armesto
Director: Jesse Jones
Sebastian Armesto’s stage adaptation of Moby Dick only starts to come to life just before the interval when the crew of the Pequod pursue and kill their first whale, an excitingly configured piece of physical theatre that finds both tension and the character thrill that this act of destruction evokes in the men. Around these moments the hour-long first half and 45-minute second act prove a little lacklustre with a faithful if rather slow plod through this classic piece of literature.
Wannabe whaler Ishmael is desperate to find a ship and teams up with bedfellow Queequeg at an inn. Together they join the crew of the mysterious Captain Ahab who lost a leg to a white whale called Moby Dick who they set out to kill in revenge.
Riven with similar-sounding sea shanties composed for this production by Jonathan Charles, this version of Moby Dick is a makeshift affair with some innovative approaches to the creation of the ship and other locations, using conjoined scaffold rigs, planks and rope as well as several imaginary actions that imply hoisting sails and dragging defiled whale carcasses onboard. This is often evocative work by designer Kate Bunce that gives a strong sense of the routines of maritime life and brings a needed tension to the encounters with the sea creatures that conclude each section of the play.
Armesto’s adaptation struggles for the same purchase however and while the process of hunting, killing and then processing the creature is clearly laid out, imbued with the excitement and awe of Ishmael’s central narrative, the broader scenes of life aboard seem to flounder. Part of the issue is a fatal lack of tension, the initial and deliberately related absence of both Captain Ahab and the pursuit of Moby Dick should feel ominous from the start and create a sense of dread or foreboding that drives the unfolding experience of the Pequod. But Armesto’s scene creation feels disjointed, too episodic in delivery that undercuts any opportunities for tension to grow.
Tonally, director Jesse Jones also struggles to find an even keel for the interpretation, wandering between terribly earnest and cartoony over-emphasis, never quite sure if it should take itself seriously or look for comedy instead. The result is an uncertainty that affects both viewer engagement and hinders character development and psychology, never really explaining Ahab’s harmful obsession with the leviathan or really investigating Ishmael’s changing responses as his dream of becoming a whaler turns into a complicated reality.
The ensemble cast works together to create lots of different characters and scenarios, with good physical theatre work as they track the whales in a small boat and move together to suggest the heft needed to perform their tasks which is interestingly conveyed. Mark Arends offers plenty of naivety in his Ishmael while Guy Rhys is all bluster as Ahab, but the adaptation never gets beyond the surface of the people it presents.
Armesto sets out to create a close confines drama about the effect of external threats on an isolated community and some of the physical theatre approaches achieve that but the text is never quite claustrophobic enough.
Runs until 11 May 2024
The Reviews Hub Score
Lacks tension
