“We wondered how our pirates would react to our world. This was the begginings of the story.”
WHO: Ian Britten-Hull
WHAT: “Based on the first novel in The Buccaneers Legend trilogy, telling the story of four revived pirates. On a stormy night, an eighteenth-century ship emerges from the mist. Its ghastly crew disintegrates after a lightning strike, giving rise to four new buccaneers with no memories of their past. This is a story of four people on a tempestuous voyage of emotion as they come to terms with who they once were, their own self-discovery and the realization of their own empathy as they navigate the modern world, fighting injustice and ultimately seeking the greatest treasure of all, Life!
The musical features thrilling sword fights, a reimagined folk music score, and a plot rich with twists and mystery. It also addresses contemporary social issues like mental health, John Rackham’s “brain fever,” Mary Read’s gender identity confusion, and Anne Bonny’s history of abuse within a sensitive and fantastical context.
“The show had energy, colour, and spectacle with an array of familiar and rousing musical numbers. We commend you for your enthusiasm and commitment to staging such a complex production” ★★★★★ BALDOCK ARTS & HERITAGE CENTRE”
WHERE: Quarry Theatre
WHEN: 25 & 26 July 2025 @ 16:00 (60mins)
MORE: Click Here!
Is this your first time to Bedfringe?
This is our first time at Bedfringe and we are really looking forward to it. One of the most important aspects of Bedfringe is that it gives local theatre companies such as ours the chance to prove what we can actually do without having to pay exorbitant theatre hirer charges. Production costs today are sky high and if small theatre companies don’t get funding, then unfortunately they cannot survive for long. This is such a shame as there is so much talent and wonderful ideas out there. Bedfringe gives all those talented people with wonderful ideas a chance to bring their shows to local people. For those who enjoy live entertainment, please come and support Bedfringe and those performers taking part. Theatre companies and performers shows are not any lesser because they are at fringe festivals rather than the West End, in fact many great shows that are now extremely popular started life with humble begginings at fringe festivals. A good example of this is the West End show “Six,” which started out at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. By comeing to see a fringe show, you are actiually taking part in the beggining of the history of a production! Come and see how it all started.
What are the big things you’ve learned since 2024 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?
Since 2024 we have strived to widen our reach and to expand our projects. AMA Theatre Co. is also a platform for anyone wanting to get involved in theatre. In fact we have just had two students working with us on work experience and we have now offered them some creative work going forward. We are very concious that with ever tighening of the purse strings, visists to theatre and live entertainment can be restrictive. Although we don’t recieve any funding and we are non-profit making, we keep going by producing a certain amount of corporate work such as team building days, event and festival shows through the summer and pantos during the winter. These projects help to subsidise other shows like Resurrection and help us keep ticket prices as low as possible. Our aim is always to produce shows that entertain and educate for reasonable prices as well as to constantly be open to learn new ways of working and listening to our audiences.
Tell us about your show.
Everyone will remember 2020 when we were all in lockdown and they said “work from home!” Well, we did! We turned our lounge into a studio theatre, complete witha broadcasting suite and we learned how to broadcast live shows over the internet. We also produced a variety of pre recorded shows and plays too. One of which was called “The Buccaneers.” We wanted to produce a show with the tag, “It’s time to live again,” so we could all start looking forward to restrictions being lifted. Then in 2021 we researched the real pirates and we discovered a poigniant and totally different story than most people are familiar with. Yes, there were murderous cutthroat pirates hellbent on theiving riches, but there were also those who resorted to piracy just to survive after the war with Spain. A lot of these people led awful lives with abuse and dire poverty. Piracy gave them a family and a means to survive. We then thought about our world today, and the negativity of populism, threats of war, rasism and prejudice. We wondered how our pirates would react to our world. This was the begginings of the story. I wrote the first novel in 2023 and in 2024, after several try out performances, Resurrection, the stage musical was born. It sees four historical pirates, John Rackham, Anne Bonny, Mary Read and a ficticious pirate, based on several real ones, Jock McTavish, reborn in our modern world. At first they have no memories, but as their memories return, they not only remeber their days as pirates, but more importantly the people they used to be before their souls got lost beneath the rough exteria of the pirates they became. The scenes of their past are represented through reimagined Irish and Celtic folk songs, (Anne Bonny was Irish) Ultimately, they decide to become a force for good in our modern world and fight against oppression and chapion empathy and understanding. We always try to make our shows as visual and exciting as possible and we are really proud of our pirate ship set! The show is faced paced and also pays reference to some modern issues such as John Rackham’s Bipolar and Mary Read’s gender identity. Of coures, no pirate based story would be complete without the odd sword fight!
What should your audience see at Bedfringe after they’ve seen your show?
One of the wonderful things about Bedfringe is that there is so much varied entertainment from theatre to comedy, children’s shows to music! If you love drama then BRAVE Youth Theatre are presnting their adaptation of Mcbeth on 26th at 3pm at the palace theatre. If you need a good laugh, then straight after us on Satday 26th Max Fulham: Full of Ham is on in the Quarry theatre. We are looking forward to seeing Kaye Leidoskope and her two shows for children. These are also interactive and take place in the Garden.
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