The Pirate Project

Created by Lucy Foster
The Unity
Friday 27th to Saturday 28th April 2012

Reviewed by Jennifer Keegan

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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