- Moby Dick Rehearsed
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Moby Dick Rehearsed is the title of a play written and directed by Orson Welles. It was performed in London in 1955. A lost film of the play, directed by Welles, starred the original stage cast.
Welles used minimal stage design. The stage was bare, the actors appeared in contemporary street clothes, and the props were minimal. For example, brooms were used for oars, and a stick was used for a telescope. The actors provided the action, and the audience's imagination provided the ocean, costumes, and the whale.
Contents
Plot
The setting is a mid-19th Century American repertory theater. The play begins subtly as the audience arrives with the cast milling around an empty stage. The cast members generally fool around and complain about their boss and their forthcoming production of King Lear. Then, making a big dramatic entrance and smoking a cigar, the actor manager of the time comes on stage and tells them they are going to rehearse another piece, Moby Dick.
The cast grudgingly performs the play, improvising scenery from items lying around, and gradually get more into character as the play develops.
The film
Because the film is lost, many people have speculated it was never created. However, evidence supporting the film was made can be found in the book, The Films Of Christopher Lee, by Pohle Jr. and Hart — Patrick McGoohan said in a 1986 interview that the excerpt of the film he saw while Welles was reviewing the rushes one day was fantastic.[1]
In The Fabulous Orson Welles, by Peter Noble, cameraman Hilton Craig reveals, "it was by no means merely a photographed stage-play. On the contrary, it was shot largely in close-ups and looked very impressive on near-completion."
Kenneth Williams' autobiography Just Williams records Williams' apprehension at the project, as it was filmed by the play's cast in just one weekend at the then-abandoned Hackney Empire theatre. He describes how Welles' dim, atmospheric stage lighting made some of the footage so dark as to be unwatchable. The entire play was filmed, but is now presumed lost. (Welles lost a great deal of material and footage when a portion of his house in Spain burnt down, but it is unclear whether Moby Dick Rehearsed was among this lost footage).
The Moby Dick Rehearsed film is not to be confused with a later project wherein Welles filmed a 22 minute version of various scenes from the play, playing all the parts himself.
Productions
The original London production ran for only three weeks.
In 1962, a production was mounted on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre starring Rod Steiger as "The Actor Manager/Father Mapple/Captain Ahab" and Roy Poole as "The Serious Actor/Starbuck" and directed by Douglas Campbell. The production ran for only thirteen performances (November 28 - December 8, 1962).
The play has since been performed numerous times on both sides of the Atlantic.
Cast
London Production
Actor Role Gordon Jackson A Young Actor/Ishmael Christopher Lee / Peter Sallis [2] A Stage Manager/Flask Patrick McGoohan A Serious Actor/Starbuck Wensley Pithey A Middle-Aged Actor/Stubb Joan Plowright A Young Actress/Pip Orson Welles An Actor Manager/Father Mapple/Ahab Kenneth Williams A Very Serious Actor/Elijah and others Joseph Chelton A Manager/Tashtego John Gray An Assistant Stage Manager/Bo'sun Jefferson Clifford An Experienced Actor/Peleg Broadway Production
Actor Role Bruno Gerussi A Young Actor/Ishmael Max Helpmann A Cynical Actor/Flask Roy Poole A Serious Actor/Starbuck Hugh Webster Actor with Newspaper/Stubb Frances Hyland A Young Actress/Pip Rod Steiger An Actor Manager/Father Mapple/Ahab Bill Fletcher Member of the Company/Elijah Louis Zorich Middle-aged Actor/Tashtego William Needles Stage Manager/Peleg/Voice of The Rachel David Thomas An Old Pro/The Carpenter John Horton Member of the Company/The Mastheader/Voice of The Bachelor Lee Morrison Member of the Company/Queequeg Melvin Scott Member of the Company/Daggoo Notes and references
External links
- Moby Dick Rehearsed at the Internet Movie Database
- Moby Dick Rehearsed at the Internet Broadway Database
- http://www.wellesnet.com/?p=699
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