An immersive, comedic and powerful retelling of Herman Melville’s famous novel, Moby Dick

Simple8 is an award-winning theatre company based in London, whose main aim is to tackle theatre in bold, physical and innovative ways. It was an absolute honour to witness such a standout piece of art that incorporated both storytelling and a dynamic ensemble aspect.

It was clear, from the very beginning, that Simple8 had casted a multi-talented, multi-faceted group of actors for this play. Three actors in particular performed sea shanties live on stage throughout the performance that blended scene changes and successfully conveyed the ship location. These actors played various instruments while the other performers experimented with harmony and singing unified as a group. It really did make a beautiful atmosphere when all of the actors came together to sing the sea shanties.

The cast consisted 9 actors, 3 of which were actors musicians that performed live onstage. Every actor in the play multi-roled and this was seamlessly accomplished by Nettie Johnson’s clear vision of shipmate clothing and extremely clever use of simplistic costumes that were easily changed and adapted making the show slick and cohesive. As a disabled actor myself, I paid close attention to Guy Rhys’s costume which had a custom-made prosthetic peg leg to embody the character of Captain Ahab and I really enjoyed the disability representation which is often not seen in theatre.

Credit has to be given to the incredible cast and Movement Director, Rachael Nanyonjo, whose complex and captivating physical theatre choreography in the show was executed brilliantly by the cast and created such an immersive and dynamic performance which was a joy to watch. Every actor had exceptional presence on stage that drove the play through the two hours with energy and urgency. The actors clearly studied the script material down to the core which was impressive and produced authentic acting on stage. They all matched the heightened emotion that was emphasised by the actors who played Ishmael and Ahab. Everyone portrayed with such sensitive, it was very admirable. This was only slightly hindered by the use of accents which was not coherent throughout the company with some actors speaking in received pronunciation and others in strong American.

The set was symbolic and easily adjustable without extraneous set pieces and props. The capabilities for the set were endless it and only involved planks of woods and smaller set pieces to change the location. The actors used a scaffolding structure that had the ability to expand and change depending on what was necessary for the scene. 

There was so much light and shade in the play and this was complemented by the use of lighting which was minimal and warm. Lanterns were used onstage and, to mirror this, the stage lights used the same colour to emphasise the only source of light that was present on the boat in the darkness. It made an atmosphere that was captivating to watch throughout the play. The lighting was used for dramatic effect and reflected the distress and fear that was conveyed by the character. For example in the End of Act 1, the pent up fear was then released creating an incredible atmosphere to experience.  The killing of the sperm whales were always presented symbolically and it was easy to guage what was happening without being shown it graphically.

Overall, I am so grateful that I got to spend the evening watching this play and getting to witness these incredible actors grasp such a complex text and adaptation of the novel. The actors worked with such specificity and depth which was an honour to watch. As this is the last stop on Simple8’s UK tour of ‘Moby Dick’, I highly recommend going to watch it before it closes.