AIRLOCK Theatre Discuss Their Raucous Queer Comedy: Pansexual Pregnant Piracy
A raucous queer comedy with songs telling the swashbuckling true story of eighteenth-century pirate Anne Bonny. Disguised as a man, Anne soars across oceans searching for booty (treasure) and booty (ass) alongside fellow pirate/partner/captain Calico Jack. But when hot wet babe Mary Read crawls aboard, the ship’s course isn’t the only thing that’s no longer straight. Can they flee the shadow of the Pirate Hunter General who dreams of taking down piracy and pansexuality? And what does it mean for their queer seafaring when their bellies brew more than just rum?!
Co-creators Robbie, Eleanor and Ro discuss the show.
Tell us what Pansexual Pregnant Piracy is about.
Robbie: I’m okay thanks x
Ro: Lady is married to sh*tty husband and treated like a woman in the eighteenth century (spoiler: uneducated baby machine). Lady hates it. Lady runs away, tries to go to sea. Lady not allowed to go to sea cos fearless sailors and pirates are scared of ladies. Lady dresses as bloke. Lady bloke allowed on ship. Lady starts banging captain, lady also bangs another bloke on ship. Second bloke is also secretly a lady in disguise. Japes ensue.
Eleanor: Without wanting to give the game away, it’s about a pansexual pirate who gets pregnant.
What challenges did you encounter while developing the characters from the real-life Anne Bonny and Mary Read?
Robbie: Some of the narrative beats in their real lives are so wild that we actually couldn’t include everything in the show! You have to streamline it to make it not absolutely unhinged beyond recognition, which is saying something cos if you watch the show you’ll see it is fairly unhinged as is.
Could you discuss the decision to incorporate music into the show? How does it enhance the storytelling?
Robbie: Songs are just fun aren’t they! It feels right in the heightened world of it all. It’s also to me a bit about queering a typical narrative frame of it just being a “straight play”. We also aren’t a full musical. Spicy middle ground.
Eleanor: I think the songs definitely add energy, fun and humour to the story. I love songs in shows because they can do two things – either they really enhance the narrative and move the story on quickly by showing a key moment, for example, showing the magic moment two characters fall in love. Or, alternatively, they serve absolutely no narrative purpose and are just an excuse for jokes and a dance about. We have both types and I think it’s great.
How have you balanced the historical accuracy of the story with creative storytelling?
Robbie: The priority has always been the creative storytelling to be honest. It’s about inspiration by the people, the world, the rough shape of the narrative. But if you try to shove something in for the sake of historical accuracy, an audience doesn’t necessarily know so it just feels weird. If it’s not funny, or efficient, then it’s gotta go. It’s also fun to purposefully subvert the historical stuff. There is an email address at one point.
Eleanor: We’re all interested by the real history of this story, and yes the show is set in the 1700s but it also has a talking kraken so creatively we certainly haven’t bound ourselves strictly to reality. I think we’ve created a clear world for them, which feels accurate and right and which we can imagine for that time; it has some fun historical facts thrown in for the nerds but we’ve used them to enhance our story rather than restrict us.
If Anne Bonny and Mary Read were to host a dinner party for other famous LGBTQIA+ historical figures, who would be on the guest list?
Robbie: Joe Exotic?
Eleanor: Ronnie Kray. Nigella, so she can cook for them.
Ro: Hatshepsut, the Pharaoh from the Eighteenth Dynasty. Suzy Izzard and Bella Ramsey? Retweet Ronnie Kray too. Also Alok Menon? If they’re free? They are very busy.
What is your favourite aspect of the show?
Robbie: It’s just got so much going on. Songs, puppets, dancing, fighting, comedy, love, kisses, good times, bad times. A smorgasbord of queer chaos.
Eleanor: Well, Robbie’s mentioned all of them, the greedy boy.
Ro: Wow the boy in the team got there first and said everything and now I have nothing to add. I personally like the bits when Robbie’s not on stage x
What do you hope audiences take away from the show?
Eleanor: I hope audiences leave feeling good and having had a nice time and a good old laugh. In general at the moment, I think there’s a lot of discourse surrounding gender and trans rights which can feel intimidating (either because there is a lot of hate or because people feel pretty ignorant) and so I hope audiences can watch a fun story and leave with a better understanding of exploring gender. I also think it can be fairly comforting to watch a play set in the past with such queer characters and I hope audiences enjoy watching a show where the main character is a queer pirate legend.
Ro: Honestly exactly what Els said. I hope people leave a) excited, comforted, informed but b) gagging for a pint so we can chat to them in the bar about it after.
Pansexual Pregnant Piracy runs at Soho Theatre until 13th April. More information and tickets here: https://sohotheatre.com/events/pansexual-pregnant-piracy/
