Moby Dick: The Radio Play

By Phil Hall

Moby Dick: The Radio Play

Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick" has challenged and provoked readers since its publication in 1851, and over the years it has inspired a seemingly endless stream of adaptations in the performing and visual arts. This unique interpretation brings Melville's masterpiece to a radio drama format, where the mind's eye envisions the bizarre odyssey that unites an unlikely collection of personalities into a harrowing hunt for a legendary white whale.
 
Originally presented in a two-part production on the critically-acclaimed syndicated radio series "Nutmeg Junction," this version moves from the epic sweep of the seagoing adventure into the emotional obsessions that drive the key characters: the adventure-seeking Ishmael, the mystically wise Queequeg, the morally conflicted Starbuck, the emotionally damaged Pip, the recklessly carefree Starbuck and the seething Captain Ahab who steers his ship and crew into a fatal maelstrom. "Moby Dick: The Radio Play" is ideal as leisure reading for Melville lovers and as a springboard for theatrical companies seeking a new spin on a landmark work.
 
In addition to the play, this e-book includes an original essay by Phil Hall on how numerous artists have approached Melville's work over the decades, along with an article by Hall on how the radio play came to life, an interview with "Nutmeg Junction" creator J. Timothy Quirk on contemporary radio theater, and a foreword on the continued appeal of Melville's work by Jeffrey Peters, PhD, the publisher and editor of the digital magazine The News and Times and the online resource The Encyclopedia of British Romanticism.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BearManor Media
• Release date: Jul 13, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393916703

Phil Hall

Phil Hall has published many books and chapbooks of poetry. In 2011/12 he won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry in English, and Ontario’s Trillium Book Award. He has been twice nominated for the Griffin Poetry Prize. Guthrie Clothing: The Poetry of Phil Hall appeared in 2015 from Wilfrid Laurier University Press. Most recently, Beautiful Outlaw Press has published Toward A Blacker Ardour (2021) andThe Ash Bell. He lives in Perth, Ontario.

Book preview

Moby Dick: The Radio Play

Cast of characters, in order of appearance

Ishmael: Thirtysomething, somewhat neurotic in his phrasings.

Peleg: Starchy, old salt. Good natured, albeit with a tinge of vinegar in his words.

Mrs. Peter Coffin: Gruff yet maternal, late-middle aged voice.

Queequeg: Pacific Islander, somewhat halting in his accented English.

First Woman's Voice: A ghostly voice belonging to a young woman.

Second Woman's Voice: A ghostly voice belonging to a middle-aged woman.

Third Woman's Voice: A ghostly voice belonging to an elderly woman.

Father Mapple: Deep, slightly pompous voice, full of drama but not sincerity.

Elijah: High-strung, defensive male voice.

Stubb: Playful male voice.

Starbuck: Serious, New England middle-aged male voice.

Flask: Humorless, flat male voice.

Tashtego: Native American voice, mild yet melodious.

Daggoo: Lively, lilting Jamaican voice.

Pip: Unhappy boy’s voice.

Captain Ahab: Elliptical, distinguished yet haunted voice.

Captain De Deer: Heavily German-accented voice with wobbly command of English

Carpenter: Somewhat impatient and silly voice.

The Rachel's Captain: Sorrowful voice, calling out across a great distance.

MOBY DICK: THE RADIO PLAY

(A haunting flute rendition of Amazing Grace is played.)

ISHMAEL

(Screams, then several seconds of heavy panting.) Call me…(five second pause, followed by a heavy swallow) Ishmael. (Exhales and begins to speak in an agitated and slightly too rapid pace.)

Some years ago, I thought that I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. I arrived in Nantucket on a Saturday afternoon in December when I came upon the ship that would change my life.

(Sound of a light wind, seagulls and the gentle lapping of waves)

ISHMAEL

Are you the Captain of the Pequod?

PELEG

Supposing I be the captain of the Pequod?

ISHMAEL

I was thinking of shipping.

PELEG

Do you know anything at all about whaling?

ISHMAEL

(Surprised) I’ve been several voyages in the merchant service, and I think that…

PELEG

(Angry voice) Merchant service be damned. Don’t speak that lingo to me. But why do you want to go whaling? I want to know that before I think of shipping you.

ISHMAEL

Well, sir, I want to see what whaling is. I want to see the world.

PELEG

Want to see what whaling is, eh? Have you clapped your eye on Captain Ahab?

ISHMAEL

Who is Captain Ahab, sir?

PELEG

(Laughs slightly) Ay, ay, I thought so. Captain Ahab is the captain of this ship.

ISHMAEL

(Confused) I thought I was speaking to the captain himself.

PELEG

You are speaking to Captain Peleg — that’s who you are speaking to, young man. I am a part-owner and agent for this vessel. But as I was going to say, if you want to know what whaling is, then cast your eyes on Captain Ahab, young man. You will find that he has only one leg.

ISHMAEL

What do you mean, sir? Was the other one lost by a whale?

PELEG

Lost by a whale? Young man, come nearer to me. (Speaks in a loud whisper) It was devoured, chewed up, crunched by the greatest monster that ever chipped a boat! (Louder) Step forward there, and take a peep over the weather-bow, and then back to me and tell me what you see there.

ISHMAEL

(Confused again) I see…

PELEG

Well, what’s the report? What did you see?

ISHMAEL

(Uncertain in his response) Not much. Nothing but water; considerable horizon though, and there’s a squall coming up, I think.

PELEG

Can’t you see the world where you stand?

ISHMAEL

Sir?

PELEG

Come back tomorrow and if you are still of the same mind, you may as well sign the papers.

(Transition music laced with sounds of seagulls crying in the sky and the noise of horse-drawn wagons)

ISHMAEL

I paced the streets to find a place for the night. I came to The Spouter-Inn, with one Mrs. Peter Coffin listed as proprietor. I sought the landlady for accommodations and learned her house was full, with not a bed unoccupied.

(Creaky door open, sound of muffled conversation and the faint melody of a harmonica playing a sea shanty.)

MRS. COFFIN

You ain’t got no objections to sharin’ a harpooner’s blanket, have you? I s’pose you are goin’ a-whalin’, so you’d better get used to that sort of thing.’

ISHMAEL

My dear lady, I never liked to sleep two in a bed. But if you really have no other place for me, I will oblige.

(Footsteps down a wooden floor, then a door opening with a dull creak)

MRS. COFFIN

This is the room. I keep a clean and honest house. You can find a restful night’s sleep on the bed, which is the softest on