Moby Dick (sometimes referred to as Moby Dick—Rehearsed) is a two-act drama written by Orson Welles. The play was staged June 16–July 9, 1955, at the Duke of York's Theatre in London, in a production directed by Welles. The original cast included Welles, Christopher Lee, Kenneth Williams, Joan Plowright, Patrick McGoohan, Gordon Jackson, Peter Sallis, and Wensley Pithey. The play was published by Samuel French in 1965. Welles used minimal stage design. 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.
Adaptations (1)
Moby Dick—Rehearsed was adapted into a 1955 film.
Moby Dick—Rehearsed1955 · film · dir. Orson Welles · IMDb ↗IMDb7.8A meta-theatrical adaptation of Moby-Dick in which a rehearsal evolves into a full performance, as actors are absorbed into the roles of Ishmael, Starbuck, and Ahab in a stripped-down, imagination-driven staging. Filmed by Orson Welles in 1955, the footage remains unreleased and is considered lost.
