Go! Feature

You’d have to be a madman to attempt an adaptation of Herman Melville’s epic 700-page novel “Moby Dick” into a two-hour stage production.

But it would take a genius to be able to not only create a viable, producible work from it, but to also make it relevant and timeless.

“Orson Welles is the guy,” said Timothy Sekk, who plays the narrator — “Call me Ishmael” — in “Moby Dick Rehearsed,” the Acting Company’s touring production that will stop for a night next week at the Aronoff Center.

“In addition to this production being a visually stunning adaptation of a difficult novel that clips along at a wonderful pace, but it is timeless because of the human emotions — revenge and pride — that it deals with,” Sekk said.

“Because of the times we are living in, there are many parallels you can draw about an unstoppable quest for something that cannot be attained, this production can be extremely profound on many levels,” he said. “That’s not to say there’s a political spin on it, but simply that the allegory can affect you in a way you don’t expect.”

The premise is this: A troupe of actors circa 1840s, about the same time as the publication of “Moby Dick,” abandon their rehearsal of a play about one unforgiving, vengeance obsessed man, King Lear, to recreate another of the same emotional stripe, Captain Ahab.  

Set in an empty theater, a tyrannical actor-manager leads his crew and transports audiences to Captain Ahab’s fateful voyage across the open seas aboard the Pequod in search of the great white whale, Moby Dick.

“Our director, Casey Biggs, was very interested in a minimalistic approach to telling this story in a visually-interesting way,” Sekk said. “There are a lot of stage pictures that have literally been choreographed, using crates and rolling ladders to create a ship.

“It’s more exciting to have our imagination do the heavy work.”

• WHAT: “Moby Dick Rehearsed” by Orson Welles
• WHERE: Jarson-Kaplan Theatre, Aronoff Center for the Arts, 650 Walnut, Cincinnati
• WHEN: 8 p.m. March 20
• COST: $30
• MORE INFO: (513) 621-2787; www.cincinnatiarts.org