An interesting idea fails to prove its purpose in The Pirate Project at Ovalhouse Theatre
The Golden Age of Piracy spanned from approximately 1650 to 1730, but at probably no stage was it concerned with winning the game of childhood fantasy career options. It has, nevertheless, a powerful romantic allure – from Stephenson’s Treasure Island to Captain Pugwash to Pirates of the Caribbean and the buccaneer is arguably one of the few ever-presents in the mind of the adventurous child.
What’s obvious from most fictional representations though, is that it’s usually considered a boy’s game, so the spyglass cast by Lucy Foster and Improbable’s The Pirate Project on the genre is certainly overdue.
The enthusiastic cast of three (Chloé Déchery, Lucinka Eisler and Simone Kenyon) climb aboard Philip Eddolls ingeniously-conceived set to find their ‘hidden pirate’, with the intention of using the stories of convention-busting lady corsairs (respectively Ching Shih, Mary Read and Anne Bonny) as inspiration in their struggle against... against...?
Well, to be honest, it wasn’t easy to tell. There is undoubtedly considerable dramatic depth in the individual tales of strong-willed women breaking from the expectations of one male-dominated society by assimilating themselves into another. But although all three performers shiver their very timbers with sheer gusto, The Pirate Project ultimately falls back on thigh-slapping heartiness rather than real dramatic meat. Analysis of the issues is painfully thin, masked by physical exuberance and a general air of “wouldn’t it be cool if?”
That wouldn’t be such a problem if it was more fun. Some of the historical scenes are vividly enacted and left me wanting more, but Foster consistently interrupts the action with film clips of older women imparting generic life wisdom. As strange a criticism as this seems, none of this appears to be at all related to piracy, and only very tenuously to the emotional back-stories of the performers themselves.
It cripples the narrative, and appears to have been added out of obligation – you’re left wondering what the purpose of the show really is, as it shies away from committing to being either a faux-historical romp or a slice of serious feminist history used as a mirror on society today. As an amalgamation of both, it simply doesn't work.
The Pirate Project has the potential to be either of the two, but at the moment it’s stuck firmly in the doldrums.
The Pirate Project runs at Ovalhouse Theatre until 2nd June
More in Theatre:
Toujours et pres de moi at The Print Room
The Conquest of the South Pole at Arcola Theatre
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