Moby Dick

‚Moby Dick‘ is a monster, one of which the author is personally warns you: ‘It is not a piece of fine feminine Spitalfields silk. But is of the horrible texture of a fabric that should be woven of ships‘ cables & hausers. A Polar wind blows through it, & birds of prey hover over it. Warn all gentle fastidious people from so much as peeping into the book – on risk of  a lumbago and sciatics.’ Hermann Melville’s masterpiece about the mythical white whale and the infinitely hate driven Captain Ahab was released in the autumn of 1851 and is now considered a timeless classic of world literature – a story that quickly turns ordinary whaling into a vendetta of tragic extent. The sailors are forced into an unconditional allegiance by their morbidly delusional captain and collapse miserably in the battle with the forces of nature. A true men’s world, which is defining itself through power and potency and detached from society is failing at their own arrogance.

The material is still relevant. The change in our society has an enormous impact in the way we define masculinity to date. Jack Urwin, a young English writer talks in his book ‘Man Up: Surviving-Modern Masculinity’ of the crisis of masculinity. He is identifying an abnormal willingness to take risks at the expense of one’s own life as one of the symptoms. Similar to the sailor Starbuck, Jack Urwin is calling us to pause  and to reflect on  the role of the man within our society. This is why we can’t win the battle with the white whale which is leading directly to our downfall.

A cooperation with Das Helmi puppet theatre and the 3rd year acting students of the University of the Arts, Berlin

Aided by the State of Berlin through the Senate Office for Culture and Europe

"Der zweistündige Abend wirkt bald wie eine ungeschützte Reise ins Herz der menschenfressenden maskulinen Finsternis im Kleid einer gekonnt gemachten, mitunter bedeutungsvoll verdunkelten Inszenierung." Irene Bazinger, Berliner Zeitung