The Honor and Glory of Whaling: The Road to Melville

Herman Melville says in Moby Dick, "To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme. No great and enduring volume can ever be written on the flea, though many there be that have tried it."

La MaMa resident playwright Michael Gorman has taken on a noble task- to honor his dead brother and to bring public attention to the community factors that killed him- namely the prevalence of drug addiction in the Maine commercial fishing community.   The Honor and Glory of Whaling is the result.  It's somewhat confusingly titled- this is actually the second play in a trilogy called The Honor and Glory of Whaling, and is technically called Following the Northern Star.  The Honor and Glory of Whaling is also the name of a 20-minute film by the playwright (shown before the play) about the production of UltraLight, the first play in the trilogy, and its impact on people's awareness.

It's clear that Gorman has an epic vision, and he (as co-director) uses the cavernous La MaMa space to place many varied scenes in strange little nooks and crannies of the theater, giving an environmental feel. However, this means sometimes the actors are too far away to be really felt and understood (and New England accents are not always easy for New York ears to grasp at the best of times), and sometimes they're uncomfortably close to the front row.  A huge moving set piece of a boat is lovingly constructed, but every movement seems to make the cockpit shake.  When it was first brought in downstage I thought it was a brilliant stroke to have the boat scenes be the closest to the audience, and therefore the most visceral, but then later boat scenes were played all the way upstage...

Despite all this, the play has many great moments.  It follows two men- Robbie (Michael Kimball), haunted by the shadow of his alcoholic fisherman father, and Guy (David Bennett- the other co-director), a farm boy who drops out of high school and starts doing drugs because he wants to be dark.  We are shown vignettes from their growing-up- Robbie with his friend Johnny (David Branch) and his girlfriend Theresa (Anita Menotti); Guy with his naive sweetheart Maria (Ruth Coughlin).  Robbie buys his father's old boat "The Northern Star" and almost immediately sinks it, losing everything, including his friends and Theresa (then his wife, now an exotic dancer).  He meets Guy who comforts him with words from Melville: "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method."  In Act II, Guy has become the First Mate of "The Northern Star II", Johnny's gone round the twist and spends all his time at the bar where Theresa dances, and both Guy and Robbie are on heroin.  Ray (J. Paul Guimont), until now a minor character, is revealed to be the middle-man supplier, and although Robbie has no problem running guns for money, when Ray suggests running heroin, Robbie and he have an altercation, as Robbie is concerned for Guy's well-being, though both of them by now are deep in the throes of addiction.

A strange imagined conversation with Robbie's elusive father ends the play, explicating the heroin = white whale = obsession parallels.

Wonderful live incidental music composed by Tonya Ridgely and performed by her, Pete List, and Evan Fraser, is a great addition to the evening, underscoring most of the action.

The actors are great- occasionally a little overblown, but in those cases they're only committing fully to the script.  I especially liked the baby-faced Mr. Bennett, who seems to embody the frustration of a good smart fella who wants to be the bad boy.  Ms. Menotti is excellent, hitting every moment of Theresa's evolution from funny little girl to disillusioned stripteuse.  Ms. Coughlin is adorable and shows how drawn Maria is to Guy, even though she knows he's trouble.  Poor Catherine Michelle North has nothing to do in a no-lines bartender role but sit around and look hot.  Mr. Kimball holds it all together as Robbie, making his descent into addiction very believable.

A lot of the play could benefit from some cutting- many of the monologues are overindulgent, and a brisker presentation might be helpful.  The show is interesting, with moments of brilliant fascination and painful frustration, but it feels as though the genesis of a greater work is lying here, waiting to be pulled out, like ambergris waiting to become perfume.

***
La MaMa e.t.c., in association with The Forty Hour Club, is proud to present the World Premiere of The Honor and Glory of Whaling, written by La MaMa resident playwright Michael Gorman. Performances will run from December 28, 2007 to January 6, 2008 in a limited engagement at La MaMa's Annex Theater in NYC. The play is co-directed by David Bennett and Michael Gorman, staged by Obie-Winner George Ferencz, with an original score by flutist Tonya "Tbird Luv" Ridgely. Post-show Q&A's will follow select performances featuring members from the recovery, addiction, theater and law enforcement communities.

La MaMa e.t.c. is located at 74A East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue & Bowery in NYC. Performances run Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 2:30pm and 7:30pm. Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for seniors and students with valid ID and can be purchased by calling 212-475-7710 or visiting http://www.lamama.org.

Appropriate for ages 14 and up. Capacity is 299 seats. Group sales: 212-254-6468. Trains: F, V to 2nd Ave. or 6 to Bleecker St.

Photos: (top) Michael Kimball and Anita Menotti; (bottom) David Bennett

To post a comment, you must register and login.