Actors - Moby Dick Rehearsed

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	Actors - Moby Dick Rehearsed

Moby Dick Rehearsed is the title of a play written and directed by Orson Welles. It was performed in London in 1955. It is also the lost film of the play directed by Welles that starred the original stage cast, most of whom went on to become big names of the stage and screen.

Welles's minimal stage design was possibly influenced by his long-term friend, Michael Macliammoir, and what he termed "anti-naturalist theater". 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.

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."

Plot

The setting was a mid-19th Century American repertory theater. The play began subtley as the audience arrived with the cast milling around an empty stage. The cast members generally fooled around and complained about their boss and their forthcoming production of King Lear. Then, making a big dramatic entrance and smoking a cigar, Orson Welles, as the actor manager of the time, came onstage and told them they were going to perform another piece, Moby Dick.

The cast grudgingly perfomed the play, improvising scenery from items lying around. They gradually got more into character as the play developed.

Controversy

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 allegedly said in a 1986 interview that the excerpt of the film he saw while Welles was reviewing the rushes one day was fantastic.

There is speculation that the film Moby Dick Rehearsed was broadcast on BBC Television in 1955.

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.

Trivia

The original production ran for only three weeks, but the play has since been performed numerous times on both sides of the Atlantic.

Cast

Category:1955 films Category:Unfinished films

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