"Moby Dick Rehearsed" Un Drame en deux Actes d'orson Welles

 

Being an adaptation-for the most part in blan verse-of the novel by Herman Melville.

ACT ONE
scene: An American theatre at the end of the last century. Theatres are often cold during rehearsals, and the actors do not shed their long, dark overcoats ex�cept when the action, or the parts they are playing, would seem to demand shirt-sleeves. No stage properties are used. Harpoons, oars, lances, gold-pieces, prayer-books, charts and telescopes, all are to be indicated in gesture and mime. For easier reading only a minimum of stage directions are given in the text. The chase in the whale-boa for example, is referred to briefly as literal action, with no attempt to describe the means by which the actors will suggest this in performance. It would not be true to say that there is no scenery. The stage is not bare; it is interestingly and even romantically dressed with all the lumber of an old-fashioned theatre.

at rise: An empty stage. Behind the usual forest of hanging ropes, suspended sandbags, battens, borders, furled back-drops and stacked wings, there is glimpsed the bare brick wall of the theatre. Here and there are the skeletons of stage platforms, on one of which stands a rather seedy-looking throne. At least two tables, a number of plain kitchen chairs and the sort of small upright organ called an harmonium. (This is actually an electric organ in disguise.) Beneath the shaded work-light a young actor is studying a prompt-book. A young actress sits nearby, listening as he reads aloud:

the young actor

“Call me Ishmael…
Some years ago�never mind how long� I thought that I would sail about a littleand see the watery part of the world.

Whenever I grow grim about the mouth,

and hazy in eyes; whenever

it’s a damp November in rny soul;

I count it time to get to sea.

Almost all men, sometime or other,

cherish these same feelings toward the ocean…”�

(Several actors come on to the Stage during the following. They have arrived far a rehearsal.)

…Here now is our island city

of a dreamy Sabbath afternoon;

what do you see? On every dock and wharf;

on the extremes! limits of the land;

posted like sentinels: thousands of landsmen,

fixed in ocean reveries…”

(In partial silhouette, the mute figures of the Actors grouped near the edge of the Stage suggest an illustration of the spoken words.)

“Inlanders of week-days tied to counters, nailed to benches, clinched to desks. Does the magnetic virtue of the compasses of all those ships attract them thither?

Why did the old Persians hold the ocean holy? � and the still deeper meaning of that story of Narcissus, who, because he could not grasp the mild, tormenting image in the fountain, plunged into it, and drowned. That same image we ourselves see in all rivers, in oceans and in lakes and wells. The image of the un-graspable�the phantom of life; and this is the key to it all …”

(A short silence, then a burst of THUNDER! The actors Pay no attention to this, some lighting cigars or cigarettes, and one relaxing with a newspaper. The THUNDER abruptly subsides sand the stage manager, in shirt-sleeves, pops his head out of the prompt-side of the proscenium arch.

the stage manager. How’s that!

the young actor. Fine. (Turing to the actress as he closes the prompt-book.) That was a sort of prologue.There are real scenes later on, of course  with dialogue.

A middle-aged actor. We know, laddie, we know. God deliver us, we’ve been asked to learn enough of it!

(Another sudden loud rumble oj THUNDER, followed immediately by the reappearance of the stage man�ager.)

the stage manager. That was with the thunder sheet instead of the drums.

the young actor. Fine.

A serious actor. (Speaking to one of the others.) I was wondering about my role Oh, I beg your pardon, I don’t think we’ve been introduced.

an old “pro.” (With cordiality.) I know you, of course;Kent, Richmond, lago, Mercutio, our new Second Lead. (Introducing himself.) Eccentric Character, First Comics and General Utility.
(They shake hands )

the serious actor. How d’ye do.�Now, about this “Starbuck” character I’ve been asked to memorize�

the young actor. (Joining the group.) That’s the First Mate, an honest, God-fearing sort of fellow. You might say he’s the only voice of sanity in the play.

A cynical actor. Sanity…?

(A sharp gust of WIND is heard; then sudden silence and the stage manager re-enters.)