Moby Dick

Plexus Polaire - The Baribican Theatre

Moby Dick brought to life through puppets! Beautiful textures displayed through iconic design elements.

A sombre, dark tale of a ship and its crew searching for 'Moby Dick', the white whale. The audience are taken on an expedition to capture Moby Dick; you see the crew catch a number of innocent whales and there are some harrowing scenes that will leave you in shock. The captain is determined to get his revenge on the whale, if it is the last thing he does; Moby Dick took his leg off. The French Norwegian theatre company Plexus Polaire have re-imagined the unique tale, written by Herman Melville and published in 1851. There are 50 puppets in this show, all various sizes and they present moments from a range of different perspectives, it is so clever how they display the story. A live orchestra plays the sound effects. There are moments you truly feel you are in the sea, sections of stillness and the sound of waving water relaxes you, after hard hitting scenes. It's a puppet show I would not recommend for children. Although, there are an abundance of puppets; this show lacks some colour, and some lines are lost in the sound.

Yngvild Aspeli, is the artistic director of this production, the puppets are so realistic; there are moments you are sat trying to work out who is an actor and who is a puppet. The piece is very dark, there is not a lot of colour, moments you do feel disengaged, and it is a show that will leave you deep in thought. It could be argued the darkness of the show represents the darkness of the captain's mind, the dark tones of the piece and the darkness of the sea. The dimensions and textures the piece plays with is remarkable. The during the scenes where we are with the captain in his cabin there is a bigger puppet of him, held together by a group of people, moving in unison to create his life like movements. This shows how he is in his mind, focusing on himself, his plans and how his selfish, cruel intentions are at the top of his priorities. At the end a huge whale puppet is moved across the curtain; to show him swimming past, they show small whale puppets throughout the show to display the action from a bird's eye view to the audience. This moment shows the audience the size of Moby Dick.

Choreographed movement individually and in unison is to a high standard, as puppeteers manipulate the props to make them natural. For instance, in the scenes where the captain is in his cabin a group of ghost characters hold each body part together. This shows how his ghosts/demons take over his mind and his past with Moby Dick is all that is left of the old captain, his vengeance is what is keeping him together and on this earth. They control him and quite literally. Another moment is when they show the crew leaving their ship in small boats, cast members control these small boats as they show them chasing after a whale. There is also a small whale puppet that is manipulated by a cast member to show the action to the audience and size comparison of the whale to the boats. You move from life size, to small; to get all the action in, to big; when they are magnifying moments. It is extremely clever how the puppets have been designed. But, also how the cast have worked hard on how they move to make the puppets life like!

The staging is minimal to create the structures of the boat, wooden panels to create the foundations of the ship. At the beginning (in the image) there are wooden curved poles, this creates an image of a whale's ribs, this is very symbolic of the action to follow. A live orchestra is stood to the sides of the stage. They play the sound effects of the show, to make it realistic and mimic the textures of the puppets. For instance, at the beginning fish puppets are swimming in the middle of the stage, the drummer lightly taps the symbol quickly and it creates the sound of water moving. The voice artist sings folk tunes, giving the idea of being at sea, these moments and the sounds she creates with her voice give the nautical theme of the piece. There are moments that the lines are lost in the sheer volume of the orchestra. However, the live sounds are very impressive and create the atmosphere in the show. There are some unique uses of sound, and this gives the show it's authentic stamp.

It's a thought-provoking piece and the puppets of course are the main event of this piece. The attention to the movement when puppeteering is the most impressive, because they are so life like. This is one to watch and appreciate, it is an artwork. This is an authentic show, that should be celebrated for the hard work that has clearly gone into it!