Moby Dick Composed: Limericks from our resident welshman(woman)

“…whenever it’s a damp November in my soul; I count it time to get to sea…”

I was going to write about how the process of creating and developing a piece of theatre with Iron Age has been a fulfilling experience. From the improvisation which helped us bond as an ensemble, while gaining an understanding of the ideas, themes and characters in the play, to our trip to Mystic to rehearse aboard the Charles W. Morgan whaling ship… I decided however to summarize with a couple of limericks:

Moby Dick Rehearsed:

There once was a group doing King Lear
Who thought they had nothing to fear
But they got to rehearsal one day
To find that they’d been given a new play
With a bunch of heathen sailors so queer!

A Recipe for Ahab

By Anthony Giampetro (Ahab)

•  1 barrel of vine-ripened lines of Orson Welles’ dialogue from a half-mad, tortured, one-legged Whaling Captain
• 1 bucket of your concentrated, boiled-down understanding of Melville’s Moby Dick
• Peel and chop finely any background information, descriptions, motivations, likes and dislike etc… of said Captain and sauté until tender. Don’t’ overcook or it will overwhelm the flavor of the Ahab
• A long wooden implement by which to move the Ahab about is a necessity
• Stir
• Make sure you are properly attired during the preparation and especially the final presentation of the Ahab
• Stir
• Deglaze with wine because wine makes everything better. Have some yourself you deserve it.
• Stir
• Pour entire contents into a try-pot and bring to a slow simmer. This cannot be rushed
• Keep stirring
• An accent will do to enhance your Ahab but don’t use a heavy hand
• Stir
• Add a bit of sugary sweetness to humanize your Ahab or he may be too bitter to take
• Stir
• Salt and Pepper your Ahab (preferably sea-salt) to bring out the full flavor and depth of character
• Invite 80 to 100 friends, acquaintances, strangers and seat them about a tastefully lit, well-appointed sideboard and pour out your Ahab over al-dente Spermacetti.
• Enjoy

A bit of Brilliant Noise

Shantypalooza: MOBY DICK AND MUSIC

by Dave Fiebert: Iron Age Theatre Core Member, Old Pro and Carpenter in Moby Dick Rehearsed

Before I attempted acting, I was a musician of sorts. I suppose we all were in our teenage years. I played guitar in high school. My first foray was with “The Travelers”. Two 9th graders: one a banjo player, the other a guitarist -that would be me. One Talent Show and we were pretty much done, but we did write this wild song about the Civil War. Even stayed up until 11pm to complete the thing, which has now been lost to time.
In time I would have played bass for about four more short-lived groups, got lucky enough to record as a bassist on an album for RCA records in NYC for a fellow named Keith, which ended up in the bargain bin soon after its release. As time would have it, someone in England picked it up in the past 4 years and re-released it on the internet. It’s titled “Adventures Of Keith”. A rather intimidating experience to say the least to record in NYC. I felt I kind of let myself down on that one. I could have done better with the original material. Years later after its 1969 debut, another original band approached me to play.

On Moby Dick: Entering the story through action.

by Michelle Pauls (Pip)

I love Moby Dick! I would never have believed that I would have gotten so swept up in the story of the white whale and the obsessed madman pursuing him. It is a story that means so many things on some many different levels.

First there is the sea. The wide expanse of never-ending ocean, stretching forever, hiding everything. I have dreamed of going to sea, off and on, for many years. Sitting on the beach in Rhode Island, I pictured myself on one of those lights at the edge of the horizon, secluded away from all the troubles of the land. Measuring existence from one short stay at port to the next. Or, maybe I’d just live on a houseboat for a while. Give up my daily grind and responsibilities, and get used to steadying myself against the constant rocking of the waves.

Speaking of rocking, one of my favorite parts of rehearsal for MOBY DICK – REHEARSED is simulating the rocking on board the Pequod on the stage at the Centre Theater. When I start rocking, or swaying, I am on that boat. I hear the gulls screeching, I see the white foam tipping the waves, I taste the salty air.

Why would anyone be a whaler? Sailing on the ship, Iron Age.

A rehearsal a few night back, one if the actors asked why anyone would enter the life of the Whaler. He could not comprehend the kind of person who would willingly join on of these crews. Men leaving home for 3-5 years at a time on a ship with few amenities. Why would someone pursue the dangers that populate the journey from the actual whaling to storms and the cold. Why would they forsake their families?
In a beautiful scene mid way through the play, Ahab and Starbuck muse about their families and we feel the potent pull of their children on their lives, or rather the children whose lives in which they are not participants. Of all of the reasons the play gives for Ahab to turn back from his obsessive mission, this is the one that rings in his ears and bends him to reconsider.
There was a great deal of discussion around the question of why people would enter this life. People mentioned poverty and financial need, the horrors of the class system, the desire to live on the edge, a need to run from someone or something. Throughout the discussion everyone seemed to see the act of being a whaler as alien and beyond our modern lives. Someone mentioned reality TV shows like “The Deadliest Catch” as example of this lifestyle today but still those characters seen as distant from our activities.
I think we theatre people, especially the people of the small, regional theaters, are much more in the wheelhouse of the whalers than we would realize.

Hunting the Beast: Shanties and scene work

Our second week of rehearsal began with an exploration of the sea shanty. Welles littered the play with calls for the sailors to sing, they sing sections of dialogue, usually ripper right from the novel Moby Dick and the script does not provide music. There are also multiple references to the sailors simply singing in the background. Delving into the research on sea shanties provided a large library to choose from. As is often the case with Iron Age Theatre, we turned to the company to focus the decisions.  Ray Saraceni, on of the most knowledgeable men I have encountered,more red to bring in a shanty or two that he particularly liked. Dave Fiebert, our resident music head offered to set some of the dialogue passages to music. I looked for something with a call and response, which I felt would be an interesting theatrically and was different that the expected choral work. We set to learning these pieces and the fun followed. Saraceni’s lovely voice, tuned to the period by his fascination with history become a lovely foundation. His choice of harmonies gave verisimilitude. Others sang with rough and rugged voices or voices with little practice.