The Harbourfront Centre’s Fleck Dance Theatre is currently home to a whaling ship and her crew with a stellar production of Moby Dick. Based on the classic novel by Herman Melville, this incredible production uses projection, music, actors, and larger-than-life puppets to bring this tale to life. A Plexus Polaire production being co-presented with Why Not Theatre, it’s featured as part of the Harbourfront Centre’s Festival of Cool and Nordic Bridges projects. Absolutely astonishing from start to finish, Moby Dick is a must-see!
This production of Moby Dick is like an 85 minute dream; with the story being a familiar one, director Yngvild Aspeli has really focused on creating the ambiance and feelings the story is meant to evoke. They do this beautifully though the on stage live music and the incredible visuals created by the projections and puppetry. They even frequently change perspectives as in a dream, showing scenes from the side one moment and then flipping the puppets to show it from a different angle to give us the full scope of the situation.
The puppets themselves are unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. Most of them are a similar size to their puppeteer, and so life-like that I often found myself forgetting that they weren’t humans. Some of them even smoke! Of course, the great white whale himself is beyond impressive: a massive creature which takes 3 people to puppeteer, covered in battle wounds, he truly looked the part of the villain in Captain Ahab’s story. Ahab himself has several iterations within the play, and while I don’t want to give too much away, at one point it takes 5 puppeteers just to maneuver him! The artistry in both the puppet making and the puppeteering is astonishing, they are clearly masters of their craft.
There are only two mor chances to see this unbelievable production, December 15th and 16th at 7:30pm. You absolutely need to get out and see this beautiful work; you are sure to be transported and mesmerized. For more information and tickets, visit: https://harbourfrontcentre.com/event/moby-dick/
If this is your first time visiting the Fleck Dance Theatre (it was mine!) it’s not located in the same building as the main theatre at the Harbourfront Centre. It’s located in the next building over, part of Queen’s Quay Terminal. There are volunteers to help guide you both at the main theatre and then once you enter the Queen’s Quay Terminal building.
Photo by Christophe Raynaud de Lage.
A View from the Box 