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SYNOPSIS

Act 1

Cornwall. A ship lies anchor.

The pirates on deck are drinking and playing cards. SAMUEL, the Pirate Lieutenant fills their

cups. FREDERIC is seated at some distance from the others, looking despondent. It is his

twenty‐first birthday and his fellows congratulate him for completing his pirate apprenticeship.

He tells the PIRATE KING he does not want to be a pirate. As a child he was wrongly

apprenticed to the ship as a ‘slave of duty’ and had to honor the contract but now he has done

his duty he wants to leave. He is asked to explain the “error” of his contract but is reluctant

because he doesn’t want to incriminate his former child nurse, RUTH. She however, steps

forward to explain that when he was a “little lad’ she mistakenly misheard his father’s wish for

him to be trained as a “pilot” for “pirate”. She begs for his forgiveness.

Frederic loves his fellow pirates but feels he must devote his “heart and soul” to their

“extermination”. The Pirate King reminds Frederic that since he will not be twenty‐one until

“the clock strikes twelve”, he must honor their interests and answer why they can’t make

piracy pay. He tells them that they are “too tenderhearted” and have a reputation for releasing

people they capture who say they are orphans. The last three ships they raided tricked them

that they were “manned entirely by orphans”.

Frederic cannot take Polly with him and offers her to the Pirate King. But he refuses and hands

her back. He tries again to persuade the pirates to give up piracy to no avail, the Pirate King

vowing “to live and die” a pirate.

Ruth begs Frederic to marry her. He thinks she may be too old and because of his lack of

experience he doesn’t know if she is beautiful or not. She considers herself a “fine woman”. He

believes her and agrees to marry. Then he hears the sound of female voices and sees a chorus

of beautiful young girls arriving on shore. He realizes Ruth has lied to him. She pleads for him

not to leave her but he renounces her.


Frederic hides as the girls climb over the rocks onto the beach and begin to take off their shoes.

Concerned they might go further with disrobing, Frederic declares his presence and urges them

to stop. He tells them he’s a pirate and they recoil in horror. When he tells them he is

renouncing his profession they take pity on him and begin to praise him for his beautiful looks.

He asks will any of them marry him? MABEL unashamedly declares, “Yes”. The couple

celebrate their new found love. Frederic warns against the threat of pirates but soon they

become surrounded by his old gang. Mabel warns the pirates that they are all daughters of

Major‐General Stanley.

The MAJOR GENERAL declares his rank and expertise. The pirates politely listen but then

announce they are all “single gentlemen” intent on marrying his daughters. “Against our wills”

cry the girls. Daughter, EDITH says they are not to be trusted as they are not gentlemen but the

infamous “Pirates of Penzance”.

The Major‐General tells them he is an orphan. As orphans themselves they take pity on him and

release the girls making them “honorary members” of the pirate band. Preparations begin for

Frederic and Mabel’s wedding.

Ruth re‐appears and again pleads Frederic not to leave her. He cannot forgive her for her deceit

and asks she leave him.

Act Two

Ruined Chapel by Moonlight.

The Major‐General tells his daughters and Frederic he has lied to the pirates about being an

orphan and feels remorseful. He has come to the chapel of his ancestors to ask them to pardon

him for bringing dishonor to the “family escutcheon”. Frederic tells him that since he brought

the property only a year ago, the ancestors cannot be his. The Major‐General replies that he is

“their descendent by purchase”. Frederic reiterates he did the right thing to protect his

daughters from “these reckless men”. The Major‐General thanks him for attempting to make

him feel better but he still wants to tell the pirates the truth but fears the consequences “would

be disastrous to myself”. Frederic tells them he has rounded up the local police to fight against


the pirates so he can marry Mabel.

The police arrive and Mabel and Edith and their sisters greet them admiringly. The police

hesitate, nervous of their fate but finally go in search of the pirates. Frederic is about to follow

when Ruth and Pirate King suddenly appear. Pistols are drawn as Frederic asks what are they

doing. They appeal for mercy as they have come to inform him of “a startling paradox”.

Frederic was born in a leap year and although he may have lived twenty‐one years he won’t

actually have twenty‐one birthdays until 1940. He is still bound by the original contract and

must return to the pirates to complete his apprenticeship. Although Frederic pleads for mercy

they remind him of his “duty”. He reveals that the Major‐General is not an orphan. Pirate King

is furious and announces he will attack the Major‐General’s castle that night.

Frederic tells Mabel what has happened and that he must leave her to fulfill his duty. He

promises to return for her in 1940.

On their return Mabel tells the police he has re‐joined the pirates. They are confused when she

defends him but vow to continue their hunt for the pirates without him. They hear the noisy

pirate band approaching and hide. Frederic now a pirate again sees the Major‐General coming.

Dressed in his sleeping gown carrying a light, he is joined by his daughters who are also dressed

in their nightgowns carrying candles. The pirates go to seize them when the police come out of

their hiding places and begin to attack the pirates. Mabel calls to Frederic for help but he is

powerless to come to her aid. Pirate King is about to kill Major‐General when his daughters

plead for him to be spared. The pirates overcome the police with their swords. But when the

Sergeant invokes the name of Queen Victoria they stop and kneel in surrender, declaring they

love their Queen. The police now stand over them triumphantly but shed a tear at the pirates

willingness to sacrifice their freedom for the Queen. They are about to be lead away to prison

when Ruth reveals that they are not really pirates but “noblemen who have gone wrong.” In

the English spirit of forgiveness, Major‐General pardons them and gives them his beautiful

daughters in marriage. All rejoice their finding of love and peace of mind.


Consider:

If duty calls, do you always obey?

Truth speaks in paradoxes.

In Victorian society the orphan was a source of anxiety and a threat.

Reference:

Imagined Orphans: Poor Families, Child Welfare, and Contested Citizenship In London, Lydia Murdoch, 2006


HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL BACKGROUND OF THE PLAY

On artistic principles, no man should play a woman’s part and no woman a man’s.

W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, 1906

Gilbert and Sullivan’s decision to not cross genders has been described as ‘revolutionary’ as

transvestism was ‘as much a staple of the Victorian stage as of the Elizabethan’. They also

agreed that ‘no actress in their plays “should be required to wear a dress that she could not

wear with absolute propriety at a private fancy ball”.

In the Victorian era it was common for women’s roles (particularly older female characters

‘dames’ ) to be played by men, however it was not uncommon to have young actresses often

play the ‘Principal Boy’ role. Generally men played women’s parts in pantomine and burlesque

and women undertook serious male roles , like Hamlet. Other roles played by women were

Shakespeare’s Ariel (The Tempest), The Fool (King Lear) and Romeo.

It was perceived that men playing women’s roles could go further in ‘gesture, intonation and ad

lib’ than a woman who would be restricted within the limits of ‘good taste’. Women were

perceived to be able to bring more sexual ambiguity to androgenous or less heroic roles. Sasha

Regan’s decision to cast an all male cast has its origins in one of the common conventions of

the Victoria theatre and may well be perceived as a return to the old rather than the radically

new.

Librettist William Schwenck Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan wrote fourteen comic operas

together. Despite their successful collaboration both men had a strained personal relationship.

Their continued success has in part been attributed to Richard D’Oyly Carte, the manager of the

Royalty Theatre in London. Their first venture was The Sorcerer in 1877 followed by H.M.S.

Pinafore. Both productions were huge successes with the audiences. However, unauthorized

productions of H.M.S. Pinafore sprung up in America and Europe. Both men would go to great

lengths to come up with ingenious solutions to solve the problem of piracy. Piracy became the

theme of their next major work, 'The Pirates of Penzance'. The idea was based on one of earlier

works, Our Island Home. One of the source stories is an incident that occurred in Gilbert’s own


childhood when he was accosted by a gang of thieves when traveling in Naples, Italy

accompanied by his nurse.

Gilbert and Sullivan were not only creators of popular entertainment they were above all

supreme satirists who played with parody and irony to critique English society. In The Pirates of

Penzance they satirize the Victorian concept of duty and fidelity, particularly targeting the

military and the police and superficial displays of patriotism.

References:

Theatre in the Victorian Age, Michael R Booth, 1991

From Dame to Woman: W.S. Gilbert And Theatrical Transvestism, Jane W. Steadman Victorian Studies, Vol 14, No 1, 1970

First Musicals – including section on Gilbert & Sullivan, D’Oyly Carte Collaboration, English Comic Opera and The Savoy Theatre and posters from first productions http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/the‐first‐musicals/

Additional Resources

Victorian Theatre

Music hall character acts: male and female impersonators Victoria and Albert Museum website http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/m/music‐hall‐character‐acts/ From Dame to Woman: W.S. Gilbert And Theatrical Transvestism, Jane W. Steadman Victorian Studies, Vol 14, No 1, 1970 Theatre in the Victorian Age, Michael R Booth, 1991

Gilbert & Sullivan

Topsy Turvey, Mike Leigh, 1999 for a portrayal of Gilbert and Sullivan.

D’Oyly Carte prompt books used in the Savoy theatre productions of the Gilbert & Sullivan Operas You can down load 1880’s The Pirates of Penzance prompt book ‘E’ as a pdf file http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/d/doyly‐carte‐prompt‐books/


First Musicals – including section on Gilbert & Sullivan, D’Oyly Carte Collaboration, English Comic Opera and The Savoy Theatre and posters from first productions http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/the‐first‐musicals/

Film Version of The Pirates of Penzance with Kevin Kline, 1983

Union Theatre

Interviews with director Sasha Regan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5rl7QEmGxQ

http://www.uniontheatre.biz/

http://www.piratesisback.com/creatives.html

Male & Female Cross Gender Performers

Barry Humphries as Dame Edna Everidge http://www.dame‐edna.com/ Chris Lilley in We Can Be Heroes, Summer Heights, Angry Boys http://chrislilley.com/

Mary Pickford as Lord Fautleroy, 1921 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruiQzQps0vo Pictorial History Of The Art Of The Female Impersonator http://www.queermusicheritage.us/fem‐pic1.html Priscilla Horton as Ariel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priscilla_Horton Charlotte Cushman as Hamlet http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/tri083.html Sarah Bernhardt as Hamlet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp_v_dP8s‐8

Modern Piracy

Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft http://www.afact.org.au/


Proposed New Anti‐Piracy Laws In the USA http://media.smh.com.au/technology/tech‐talk/new‐york‐prostest‐against‐antipiracy‐laws‐2902476.html Australian Government Guidelines Against High Seas Piracy http://www.securitymanagement.com.au/articles/new‐australian‐guidelines‐to‐combat‐piracy‐on‐the‐high‐seas‐143.html


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I bound myself to serve the pirate captain

Until I reach my one‐and‐twentieth birthday

MABEL But you are twenty‐one?

FREDERIC I’ve just discovered

That I was born in leap‐year, and that birthday

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MABEL Stay, Frederic, stay!

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THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE Sydney Theatre Company Post‐Production Education Resources 2012 www.sydneytheatre.com.au/stced © Sydney Theatre Company

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Describe your role and responsibilities.

Compose graphic design ideas that will capture and communicate the director’s vision to the

target audiences.

Extension:

Marketing Strategies & Proposals

Role‐play a marketing strategy team meeting between the marketing manager, publicist and

graphic designer.

You have 6 months before the production goes on.

Brainstorm ideas on how to attract the target audiences.

Write them up on paper, whiteboard or computer.

Don’t censor your ideas – be brave and bold in your thinking.

Make a short list of the best ideas.

Discuss what is achievable (within budget and time‐frame etc) and what is not.

Delegate who should do what and when within 6 month time‐frame.

Compose a 250 word proposal in your area of expertise based on the brainstorm session on

how you envisage attracting the target audiences.

Post‐Performance Reflection:

Look at the marketing materials for the STC’s production of the play.

www.sydneytheatre.com.au/what's‐on/productions/2012/the‐pirates‐of‐penzance.aspx

Discuss the production image they are trying to communicate to the audience.

Consider

Graphic Design

Images

Colour

Mood & Tone

Layout of web page

Relevant Information

Text – synopsis, one‐liner description, quotes, references to previous productions

Compare & Contrast your expectations before and after seeing the production.

Did the marketing materials accurately match your actual experience of the show or not? If not,

why not?


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Documents

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