Much Ado about Feckin’ Pirates or the Parrots revenge. Improv Fantasy on the high seas

Richard Gélinas and Margo MacDonald. Photo: Pascal Huot 

In spite of the title this has nothing to do with Shakespeare, and a lot to do with the writers’/actors’ sense of adventure: the world of pirates, the world of Improv and the playful discovery of what appears to be the old pirate language that is both savoury and very demanding. Yes indeed, Margo Macdonald and Richard Gélinas improvise in “pirate” for just over 60  minutes and that is a feat of great virtuosity. The two adventurers are lashed to the upper mast inside the crow’s nest of a huge pirate ship because the captain (a sadistic old chap whom we never see because he is below) wants to punish them for fighting.

She (Margo MacDonald) accuses him (Richard Gélinas) of murdering her pet parrot but he denies it, at least at first. As they describe their pirate life and squabble about everything, the show moves towards the improve themes that the audience was invited to select in the lobby, just before the play started. So suddenly there they are speaking of sharks, and mutiny, and pirate legends and ghosts and all sorts of subjects that bring the two into the realm of storytelling. Some of the stories are rather bloody and cruel, some are funny, but the point is they continue for 90 minutes in perfect “pirate” and that is the feat.

We soon realise that the effort was not that easy. There were blips and bloops that ended up in contradictions. There were moments when they had to slow down to think of what they would say next. There were moments when they were caught up in the fun and almost broke up. But all that just made it very human and more fun because they were not pretending to be real pirates. This was a playful exercise and we could see that. As the stories collected we could see that MacDonald has a great gift for storytelling, she loved gory detail – think of the terrible tale of the cruel captain who boiled his crew alive and ate their skin…but eventually she evolved towards descriptions that had a lyrical quality which gave her tales a certain fascination. Gélinas’ tales revealed his desire to be the more educated pirate who is an artist, a thinker with an extensive pirate vocabulary of three syllable words and a background that is not at all what one would expect.

The evening leads to a surprising end because the one who wins is not the one we would have suspected.

The only trouble with this show is that after about 45 minutes  it did become a bit tiresome. We realised that they had to speak to the selected themes posted on the theatre wall so we could tell what the subject matter was. The tales evolved slightly because we noted a change in tone as the stories accumulated. However, the whole show became less interesting because nothing really changed, it even had a slightly repetitive quality and at a certain moment  I was looking at my watch. They could have dealt with less material and it would have been perfect because the present content could not carry a whole evening. One good thing however, every evening will be a different performance because the audience will chose different themes so the content will change. They might limit the number of themes and shorten the evening. It would work much better and one can return as often as one wants for free if one brings in a new spectator each time. As it is however, this essentially feels like  a  fringe show that is trying to be something else. Much Ado about Feckin’ Pirates continues until March 29. Call the Gladstone Theatre for tickets.

Much Ado about Feckin’ Pirates by Richard Gélinas and Margo MacDonald.

Directed by Al Connors

Vanessa Imeson Costumes

David Magladry Lighting

Stephanie Dahmer Brett Scenic painters

John Brogan and Chris McLeod Fight choreographers