From its beginning, Buntport Theater has shown some marked strengths: taking an irreverent approach to literary classics; creating sets that dazzle the eye because of their ingenuity, not their expense; and making the audience laugh rather hard.
All three talents take the stage again in Moby Dick Unread, a 90-minute take on the Melville novel that most people know but few have read. Buntport takes advantage of that point to spin off in wild tangents, focusing more on the arcana of the epic than silly things like plot and character development.
Things begin portentously, as Erik Edborg silently takes the stage, where, to very serious music, he winds up a plastic whale and drops it in a fish tank, enacting a pantomime battle with nature as he plunges hands, arms and head into the water in a fruitless attempt to capture the toy.
But these creative forces – four onstage actors, aided by Samantha Schmitz and Evan Weissman – would never settle for such a simple setup. Rather, they roll out a small wooden sailboat that serves as the Pequod, and buckets of water descend from the ceiling, soon serving a multitude of purposes and suggesting a sailing vessel’s riggings. A large rope ladder in the corner allows for more diverse staging, as well as an allusion to a ship’s crow’s nest.
The actors go through an elaborate explanation of how we know, for example, when Erin Rollman is Starbuck and when she is the ship’s carpenter, but distinctions like a beard or a hat don’t help as much as characterization. In truth, any fidelity to portrayals carries less weight in this production than the comic surprises in store.
Brian Colonna utters the book’s opening words, “Call me Ishmael,” and serves as a kind of everyschlub observing the battle royale before him. Hannah Duggan wears a brown sock for Captain Ahab’s peg leg but is most enjoyable when her Ahab sobs over the whale or whines over leaking oil.
Like most of the company, Edborg plays multiple characters, and contorts his face with lickety-split reactions.
Rollman distinguishes herself again, creating characters so distinctive they don’t need costuming. Her barking, growling Starbuck contrasts nicely with the muttering, stammering ship’s carpenter.
Bits and pieces float through this production, from the taxonomy of whales to the story of Jonah. The play does begin to outlast its inventions, but when a group consistently turns out dazzling, original work of high quality, such complaints seem like asking for a second dessert.
-Lisa Bornstein, April 6, 2007, Rocky Mountain News