Reviewed by Judy Richter
Stanford Repertory Theater has taken on the challenges of this work in its second summer production featuring both Stanford students and Bay Area professional actors.
This one-act, approximately 100-minute play begins as a group of casually dressed actors (costumes by Connie Strayer) rehearse Shakespeare's "King Lear." Dissatisfied with the director's approach, they begin their own project, "Moby Dick," starting with the memorable opening line, "Call me Ishmael."
From there the 15 actors enact the epic story of a 19th century whaling boat, the Pequod, and its captain's maniacal pursuit of the white whale, Moby Dick, that bit off one of his legs below the knee.
Veteran Bay Area professional Rod Gnapp plays Lear in the opening scene, then becomes the obsessed Captain Ahab in a memorable performance. Another standout in the cast is professional actor Peter Ruocco as Starbuck, the first mate and the only crew member who voices his doubts directly to Ahab.
Among the students, Louis McWilliams is noteworthy as Ishmael, the saga's narrator.
Another professional in the cast is Courtney Walsh, who plays several roles and serves as movement/dance director.
Directed by Rush Rehm, the production moves fairly well with a few lulls in the middle. However, some of the actors need to work on diction. The shouting is overdone in some scenes.
The scaffold set by Annie Dauber defines the ship, aided by lighting by Michael Ramsaur and the sound design by Michael Keck, who wrote some of the music. Music director Weston Gaylord elicits some fine choral singing, especially in "Eternal Father, Strong to Save," a.k.a. "The Navy Hymn."
It's significant that Welles incorporated an opening scene from "King Lear" in his play, for some parallels can be seen. Besides the ascent into madness by Lear and Ahab, one of the more apparent is the insane cabin boy, Pip (Maia Kazin), who can be compared with Tom or the Fool in "Lear."
This production is part of SRT's 16th summer festival, dubbed Orson Welles: Substantial Shadows. Later this summer the company will present a theatrical re-creation of Welles' famous 1938 radio broadcast, "The War of the Worlds." Free showings of several of Welles' films feature Stanford professors leading discussions about them.
A symposium about Welles and Melville is scheduled for all day Aug. 2. For details, visit continuingstudies.stanford.edu.
"Moby Dick -- Rehearsed '' will continue through Aug. 10. For tickets and information about it as well as "The War of the Worlds" and the films, call (650) 725-5838 or visit www.repertorytheater.stanford.edu.