Moby Dick

based on the novel by Herman Melville
Plexus Polaire
Singapore International Festival of Arts 2024
Singtel Waterfront Theatre, Singapore

This opening show of the SIFA 2024, presented by French-Norwegian theatre company Plexus Polaire and directed by Yngvild Aspeli, is a rich, immersive feat of the imagination. Featuring just seven actors, it brings Herman Melville’s sprawling 1851 maritime novel, widely regarded as a cornerstone of American literature, to life using fifty intricately-designed puppets, multimedia projections and live music.

Unfurling in just ninety minutes, Aspeli’s production naturally makes some sacrifices. Melville’s long, philosophical passages about various aspects of the whaling trade have largely been excised, the language is crisp and modern and we focus on key episodes from the novel rather than detailed character development. At the heart of course is Captain Ahab’s dogged pursuit of the titular white sperm whale that claimed his leg on a previous voyage and desire to vanquish the beast. It’s narrated by a sailor called Ishmael who recounts joining Ahab’s crew and participating in a series of seafaring adventures before the final showdown with Moby Dick. 

Photo Credit: Christophe Raynaud de Lage

What comes across strongly in this version is a sense of inevitability in the battle of man and nature. Ahab’s quest seems doomed from the start. In a wordless prologue, we see a cloud of masked, hooded figures surrounding the stage, infiltrating the characters and almost pulling them into the murky depths. They appear like a phantom presence throughout and finally re-emerge at the end for a dance of death.

Of course, the real joy lies in how the story is told. The superb puppetry and projections transform the stage into the vast, inky ocean, where schools of fish dart and disappear in a flash and stingrays lazily glide around. The image of Moby Dick itself is quite a sight to behold, underscoring the sheer immensity of the creature and powerlessness one can feel in its presence. Ahab is portrayed in three different scales including a giant version held aloft by several puppeteers. He cuts a figure both menacing and vulnerable, yelling warrior-like in the face of danger and yet remains haunted by the beast that has so plagued his thoughts. In a dream sequence, a whale mockingly pulls his prosthetic leg out of reach.

Aspeli plays with both macro and micro perspectives throughout the narrative. At times we are on the ship, watching the crew sing songs below deck or steer through tumultuous currents. Elsewhere, we switch to seeing the entire vessel in miniature as it prepares for a hunt, with harpooners being dispatched in small boats. In a particularly harrowing scene, a baby whale watches its parent being slowly skinned and then beheaded by the crew before they extract gallons of precious spermaceti from its head cavity. The near-drowning of cabin boy Pip is simply but beautifully captured through his head poking through a sheet that engulfs the stage. The overall experience is incredibly cinematic, reminding one of the exquisite puppetry in stage adaptations of The Wind-up Bird Chronicle and My Neighbour Totoro that sweep one into their richly realised worlds.

Photo Credit: Christophe Raynaud de Lage

The production elements are superb throughout, with the sets, lighting and sound perfectly augmenting the action. At times, it is genuinely incredible to fathom that there are just seven performers manipulating all the action. The musicians, who stand at either end of the stage, powerfully straddle the classic and contemporary, using the cello, electric guitar and drums to create a variety of sound effects and dazzling us with their chilling vocals. 

Aspeli and Plexus Polaire have given us a visually stunning, genre-bending adaptation that breathes new life into this timeless classic.

The Crystalwords score: 4/5