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Stefanie Okuda / Stanford Repertory Theater Rod Gnapp as Ahab in Stanford Repertory Theater's production of Orson Welles' "Moby Dick -- Rehearsed," running July 17 through Aug.t 10, 2014, in Pigott Theater at Stanford.

Oh, Ahab, Ahab, Ahab. When will that man ever learn?

Wasn't it enough that he suffered greatly, lost his leg at the knee and became maniacally obsessed with catching and killing the ghostly white whale that did the dirty deed?

Herman Melville's venerated masterpiece also captured the imagination of another gifted but tortured soul, Orson Welles. Who knew that years after his 1938 radio adaptation of H. G. Wells' "War of the Worlds" and his celebrated 1941 film "Citizen Kane" won him worldwide acclaim, he would turn to the British theater to create and produce a two-act drama about a fellow tortured soul, the aforementioned Ahab?

Probably not many people other than Welles aficionados. Count Stanford Repertory Theater artistic director Rush Rehm as one. In his director's note for Stanford Rep's offering of "Moby Dick -- Rehearsed," he recalls playing an "unnamed crewmember" in a 1969 production of this same play.

Which is likely why this quirky but affecting drama has a spot in the Stanford Rep summer festival, "Orson Welles: Substantial Shadows."

The 90-minute production (no intermission) is a "play-within-a-play," so the actors walk onstage nonchalantly at the beginning, discussing -- but mostly grumbling about -- the director's take on their upcoming rehearsal of "King Lear." Amid complaints that the driven director is "deconstructing the play's language" and using a "bunch of directorial tricks," in she walks (a dynamic, focused Courtney Walsh), who lectures the actors to do such unusual actions as "use cellphone cues."


There's mutiny afoot among the cast, so when one of the players, a thoughtful, motivated Louis McWilliams (who later uses this same serious persona as "Moby's" narrator Ishmael), tells them he's rewriting "Moby Dick" as a play, the actors toss aside their plans to perform "Lear" and wholeheartedly jump into a full-blown performance of Melville's classic tale.

It seems a huge leap, but director Rehm eases into the mood, feel and tempo of "Moby" so inconspicuously that it isn't long before everyone -- cast and theatergoers alike -- is in Nantucket, boarding the Pequod and setting sail with the professed purpose of tracking whales for their oil. But when Captain Ahab (a sturdy, grounded performance by Rod Gnapp) finally emerges from his cabin to talk to the crew, he reveals his sole goal: Revenge on Moby Dick.

There is a real lyricism to many of Welles' lines, with the cast at times acting as a Greek chorus in splendid harmony. There's lyricism, as well, in the way Rehm recreates the feel of being on the Pequod, with a lookout high atop the bare black (sometimes rusted and green) metal structure that stands in for the ship. Toward play's end, the three simple wooden benches of the ship swiftly turn into the three small whaling boats that the hard-working crew row in precision, even leaning to and fro together as if as one.

There's this same attention to detail throughout the play. Rehm never allows his actors to simply stand around. Each has his or her own duties: tying ropes, cleaning surfaces, climbing up (or down) ropes and, for several of the women in the cast, slipping on a long sash and taking turns acting as the ship's figurehead.

Composer and sound designer Michael Keck creates the musical tone for this play, and it's frequently quite powerful. Michael Ramsaur's lighting also contributes to the tone, bright when needed, shadowy and foreboding at other times. Annie Dauber's scenic designer works seamlessly as well.

Several others in the large cast deserve mention, most especially Maia Kazin, a slip of a girl who, with her large, expressive eyes and contorted face, is always believable as the young black boy, Pip. Ahab takes Pip under his wing and prevents him from being taunted by the jaundiced crewmembers. Kazin is spellbinding when she delivers a near-mad soliloquy that is both poetic and heartbreaking.

As Starbuck, the Pequod's chief mate, Peter Ruocco is sincere and stable, though at times it feels as if he should have tried a little more forcefully to change the mind of his mad captain. Timothy James Borgerson seems an earnest, articulate second mate Stubbs, and Kaya McRuer is an energizing, influential stage manager for both "Lear" and "Moby Dick."

Walsh returns in a myriad of other roles, from Father Mapple to a harpooner and regular crew member. She's committed completely and believable in all.

While it seems unlikely, the audience actually feels as one with the cast, as if all are in the whaling boats together, awaiting disaster. Whether allegorical or real, it's so in the moment that audience members are sucked along reluctantly on the manic journey to catch the white whale. Powerful stuff.

Email Joanne Engelhardt at


What: "Moby Dick
-- Rehearsed"
Where: Stanford Repertory Theater, Pigott Theater, Memorial Auditorium, Stanford University
Through: Aug. 10
Tickets: $15-$25; 650-725-5838 or