‘ Moby Dick’ on the air
PHIL HALL TURNS CLASSIC WORK INTO A RADIO PLAY
Too many people see Herman Melville’s classic novel “Moby Dick” as “crazy old Captain Ahab chasing a white whale,” explains actor and writer Phil Hall.
But Hall, who lives in Fairfield, has never seen the piece that way. He’s always been fascinated by the book, and the depth of its characters.
He adores the tome so much, he adapted it into a radio play, which aired in December 2019 on WAPJFM in Torrington, as part of the Nutmeg Junction radio series. And this month, the play will become available as an e- book, through Amazon and other e- retailers.
Hall says the book is timeless, largely because of how well- drawn and complicated its characters are. “Each one has his own baggage,” says Hall, 55. “That was Melville’s genius. You can have all these wonderfully warped people together in one setting.”
His original aim was to adapt the 1851 novel into a stage play. However, a story that takes place largely at sea with a giant whale as a main character is little cumbersome to stage. So he gave up on that dream “and it’s one of those disappointments that stayed with me over the years,” Hall says.
But not long ago, Hall was working with the syndicated radio series Nutmeg Junction, when the series creator, J. Timothy Quirk, asked ensemble members if they would be interested in writing anything for the program. Hall immediately volunteered and knew exactly what he wanted to write — “Moby Dick: The Radio Play.”
It was, to put it lightly, a bit of a reach for the radio program. “Up until then, Nutmeg Junction was primarily sketch comedy,” Hall says.
But he didn’t want his play to be funny. He wanted it to plumb the depths of Melville’s master work, and strip bare the psyche of Ahab, Ishmael and the other characters. So he set about paring the massive tome — some versions clock in at nearly 900 pages — down to two 30- minute chunks of radio drama.
“It wasn’t that hard to whittle down, because a lot of the book is observations about and descriptions of whaling,” Hall says.
The resulting radio play aired last year, with Hall himself voicing Captain Ahab. He says the reception was good, particularly considering that it was such a departure from the regular Nutmeg Junction fare.
“One fellow told me he listened to it with his young son as a way to introduce him to the original book,” Hall says.
Though the program has been stored in the Nutmeg Junction archives, Hall worried that it might get lost to time. “I like things to have a degree of permanence,” he says. “I wanted people to see what was created.”
That’s what led Hall to create the e- book version of the play, which includes not just the script, but additional materials, including a discussion of the many other adaptations of “Moby Dick” — perhaps the most famous of which is the 1956 John Huston film, starring Gregory Peck as Ahab.
“I think this was probably most adapted work of American fiction ever,” Hall says. “It continues to inspire people. People are still reading it.”
He says he hopes theater troupes will latch onto his radio play and use it for staged readings. Hall says it could even be performed in these times, when the pandemic makes live theater an impossibility.
“I could envision this being done on Zoom,” he says. “This is the ultimate in bare bones theater.”