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The Pirate Project
Created
by Lucy Foster
Friday 27th to Saturday 28th April 2012
Reviewed by
The Pirate Project was aimed at questioning whether modern 21st century
women still had what it takes to push boundaries and succeed in the way
female pirates did in the past. Performed by Chloé Déchery,
Lucinka Eisler and Simone Kenyon, they explored the stories of three pirates
from the past and intertwined them with personal stories and quests from
their lives today.
At first the play came across as something of a help group, encouraging
the audience to shout “ah Haaaarrr” and look into themselves
for their own failings and shortcomings. As they delved into the stories
of Anne Bonny, Mary Read and Ching Shih, all female pirates who rose above
their stations, they seemed to lose their audience; these old stories
bordered on being uninteresting. Added to that the chaos and childishness
of the girls “acting out” parts of these stories almost has
this play written off as an epic fail.
Then the girls snapped back to modern day, and opened up about their
own worries, beliefs and shortcomings, and in short, this saved the play.
As Chloé told of her passion to be the best, Lucinka of her inability
to make a decision, and Simone querying sexuality, we saw the humanity
in each of them. I was a little disappointed with The Pirate Project,
I expected a strong feminist play but the story that could have been told
got lost in the silly antics of the cast rolling around the stage. The
concept was brilliant, but unfortunately, poorly executed.
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