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The Watery Part of
the World - Scottish Premiere.
This work was developed through the Battersea Art's Centre's "scratch
programme" and is part of BAC's This Way Up Touring Showcase.
Playwright - Written and adapted from Herman Melville’s Moby
Dick and its original sources by Mark Espiner.
Director – Mark Espiner with Tom Espiner.
Designer - Mark Anstee.
Lighting Design – Simon Macer-Wright.
Sound Design – Gareth Fry.
Assistant Sound Design – Carolyn Downing.
Company - Sound and Fury
Cast - here .
Tour Dates and Times - here .
Seen to review at Tron Theatre Glasgow on 30 April 2003.
Run Time - hours mins including 15 mins interval no Interval .
Reviewer - Lee Trew.
Superb voice talents and haunting imagery.
This is the true story of a Nantucket whaling ship that was attacked
by an 80 foot whale in 1820, and is performed in total darkness. The effect
of being entirely starved of visual stimulus is so intense, it's
almost overwhelming. The darkness seems to roar in your face. The eyes
do strange things in the absence of light as the mind struggles to come
to terms with the void.
Gareth Fry's masterful sound artistry has free reign and immediately
- when the sounds of lapping waves begin - you are transported.
The darkness isn't immediate, though. A few minutes into the first
scene and the battle-scorched Captain of the ship can be seen. His face
half-illuminated by dim green light he describeswitnessing death at sea,
with a hypnotic melancholy. While he talks, the faces of his crew members
drift in and out of the light like buoys bobbing in the ocean.
The dialogue throughout is sublime. Luscious and lyrical and utterly
entrancing. It's a shame, however, that the story doesn't really
back it up. In fact it's not much of a story at all, more of a single
event, lead up to by a series of set-pieces.
These in themselves, however, are flawlessly orchestrated. From the description
of being in the crow's nest when the first whale is sighted, to the loss
of the cabin boy when he becomes entangled in the rope of the harpoon,
you are there with them - part of the action. The superb voice talents
and haunting imagery make it so real that at times you can almost taste
it. The lure and majesty of life at sea, and the hellishness when it goes
wrong.
© Lee Trew 30 April 2003 - Published on EdinburghGuide.com
Cast: Alex Dunbar, Tom Espiner, Simon Snashall,
Peter Townsend and Martin Welton.
Tour Details of Sound and Fury's production
of The Watery Part of the World.
Tour begins
29 & 30 April at 8pm Glasgow Tron Theatre www.tron.co.uk or 0141 552
4267.
5 - 7 May at 7:45pm Coventry Warwick Arts Centre www.warwickartscentre.co.uk
or 024 7652 4524.
16 - 18 May at 8pm Maidenhead Norden Farm www.nordenfarm.org or 01628
788 997.
22 - 23 May at 7:45pm Bath Theatre Royal www.theatreroyal.org.uk or 01225
448 844.
29 - 31 May Mon - Frids at 7:30pm Sats 8pm Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre
www.royalexchange.co.uk or 0161 833 9833.
Tour ends
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