Simple8 announce casting news for the critically acclaimed and multi-award-winning stage adaptation of Herman Melville’s leviathan masterpiece, Moby Dick – a fun, fast and joyous production that transports you right to the heart of the hunt for the most famous whale on earth.
Royal & Derngate Artistic Director, Jesse Jones directs an incredibly multi-talented ensemble of nine actors and actor-musicians: Mark Arends (Ishmael), Jonathan Charles (Ensemble), Hannah Emanuel (Starbuck), Syreeta Kumar (Manx), Hazel Monaghan (Ensemble), James Newton (Flask), William Pennington (Stubb), and Tom Swale (Queequeg). Guy Rhys plays Captain Ahab.
Director Jesse Jones said ‘It is a great pleasure to bring together this supremely talented ensemble of performers that I can’t wait to get into the rehearsal room with. Together, as a company we will conjure the world of the play using their musical ability, dynamic physicality and powerhouse performances to breathe life into this poignant yet playful production. It will be a joy to see this production set sail on tour’
As previously announced, this inventive staging has been reworked as a brand-new touring production in association with Royal & Derngate, Northampton. It will open at Northampton with a national press night in April ahead of a London press night at Wilton’s Music Hall as part of a UK tour which travels to Northampton, Perth, London, Ipswich, Newcastle, The Isles of Scilly (the first time a midscale tour has ever visited the Islands), Blackpool, York, Malvern and Oxford.
October, 1839. The Pequod is due to sail out of Nantucket and her skipper, one Captain Ahab, is in need of a crew. Seeking fortune and adventure, a humble schoolmaster named Ishmael ships aboard, joining a company charged with one task: to wreak revenge on the white whale that lost Ahab his leg – the infamous Moby-Dick.
With theatrical flair and thrilling invention, the spirit of the novel – romantic, ambiguous, and rich with allegory – is gloriously captured by Simple8. Complete with sea shanties played live on stage, planks of wood, tattered sheets and a battered assortment of musical instruments, the 9-person ensemble will bring this wonderfully vibrant production ingeniously to life. In a post-pandemic age Moby Dick is more pertinent and vital than ever. The anguish of isolation, the pressure enforced inter-dependency brings, and the fear of unseen dangers swimming beneath the surface are tackled full tilt in this lively production.
