The White Whale

The tale of Moby Dick is given an innovative makeover in this extraordinary feat of story-telling from James Phillips

You remember when we started to hunt whales again? We fought monsters and we killed them and wrestled the oil from their dead bodies and we sold it. In the future we hunt whales for the oil in their bodies. Just like they did in centuries past. The oil of a single whale can run an army for a week. This is new science. This is our future. So we send gangs of men out onto the dark, cold sea to bring back the things we need. The crew of the Pequod are going to sea because it’s their job. But Ahab, captain of the Pequod, is not going to sea for the oil or for the money. Ahab is going for revenge. Revenge on the vast whale that took him down into the black depths of the ocean. Revenge on the greatest whale in all the oceans: a perfectly white whale. And Ishmael, a young man new to whaling, is going to sea seeking a hunter’s violence, trying to stop the thoughts of violence in his heart. And we are all going with them. The White Whale premiered on 4 September 2014, at Leeds Dock, UK in a production by Slung Low theatre company.