The Local - Mt VictoriaA pirate-themed musical is making its world premiere at the Hannah Playhouse this December, as Jane O’Loughlin found out.
In the Margaret Mahy classic children’s book The Man Whose Mother Was a Pirate, office worker Sam is convinced by his pirate mother to take a break from working for his boss Mr Fat and to head off with her to see the sea – but their long voyage, with Sam pushing his mother in a wheelbarrow and trailing a kite – is interrupted by various naysayers along the way.
Now musical performance artist Nino Raphael has adapted the book into a musical that is soon to have its premiere at the Hannah Playhouse, directed by Sara Brodie.
Raphael – who was born in the UK but grew up in New Zealand since the age of 9 – encountered the book when he was about 25 in his auntie’s cellar in Leicester.
“I didn't know the story, but my (British) cousins all knew it. And my mother knew it really well. It was just there at Christmas time. I read it three times in one go, and it just spoke to me, in its starkness and its honesty about how challenging it is to suddenly make a decision in your life that sends you away into the unknown.”
This is Raphael’s first musical but he’s clear on the approach he wanted to take – interactive theatre that brings the audience into the story, enlisting them to help move the story along through singing.
“A lot of my ethos around art and music, and especially singing, is that it's for everyone, and making music and art and singing accessible can, I think, change people's lives. It can start communities. It can bring a huge amount of change to people's daily life …being a choir leader and, being part of choirs I've seen it happen and I work towards making that happen.”
Further inspiration came from a place across the road from the Hannah Playhouse: the Welsh Dragon Pub, where Raphael was struck by a diverse crowd with a mix of confidence levels happily belting out shanties on a Wednesday night – and he realised it was a style that was perfect for a pirate-themed musical.
“Everyone joins in and it is raucous, and it reminded me that shanties are for everyone.”
One audience member Raphael was keen to impress was Margaret Mahy’s daughter Bridget, the custodian of the Margaret Mahy estate, who came along to a development session and subsequently gave her blessing.
“She really enjoyed it, so that was the only opinion I really cared about.”
Although the show has had some initial outings, the version opening at the Hannah Playhouse in December is the most ‘refined’ version of the musical, with a full set, and an orchestra of actor/musicians.
Raphael says the show is designed to appeal to young and old. Funding from the Performing Arts Foundation enables children’s tickets to be more affordable, and at one hour long, the show is a suitable length for those with short attention spans.
Raphael hopes it will have longevity, even dreaming that one day it will be in the West End in London. Daring to take a chance is the theme of the musical after all, with a key line in the play being ‘we won’t know if we don’t go’.
“It’s about about trusting your instincts and going off on an adventure and doing the thing that scares you…and I would like that to be a message to children here as well, that they should be brave, feel the fear, and do it anyway.”
THE MAN WHOSE MOTHER WAS A PIRATE - THE MUSICAL is on 5-14 December at the Hannah Playhouse.
Tickets from www.piratemothermusical.com
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