The high seas are often portrayed as a gate towards freedom. A place where land borders and political lines disappear into a breadth of rolling waves, where the only people you have are the ones you’ve brought aboard.
Halifax playwright Karen Bassett originally wrote Heroine to portray strong women in the pirate-polluted oceans of the 18th-century Bahamas. Now, many years later, Theatre New Brunswick is bringing the story of history’s most famous femme pirates, Mary Read and Anne Bonney, to the Bus Stop Theatre this week.
“It focuses on their relationship, and particularly, their ability to wield weapons,” says director Natasha MacLellan in an interview with The Coast. “Karen Bassett is a fight director, and she does a lot of the fight directing at the Neptune and most of the companies in Atlantic Canada, or certainly the Maritimes.”
When Bassett couldn’t find plays that feature women in battle, she wrote her own. She’ll be starring as Mary Read, alongside New Brunswick actor Mélanie LeBlanc, who plays Anne Bonney.
“We don’t get a lot of stories with fights, and we don’t get to see a lot of women do it a lot,” says MacLellan. “It’s raunchy, it’s filthy, and it’s kind of nice to see women play these characters.”
And while MacLellan says it’s not by any means a “feminist manifesto,” it is still an important piece of work that brings women more opportunities to see themselves as strong figures on stage.
“It’s frustrating as a woman working in the performing arts,” says MacLellan. “Women are often sidelined to being the accessory for the male journey. Just being the mom, the girlfriend, and the wife.
“This play is about them,” she continues. “I always look for shows like that, just getting to see women be fierce, women be capable and strong.”
It helps that pirates are seeing a cultural resurgence. Television shows like Our Flag Means Death, Black Sails, and most recently, the live-action adaptation of the One Piece comic series, have furthered the public’s interest in seaworthy outlaws.
“We had great crowds in New Brunswick,” says MacLellan after touring the play across the province. “Pirates are a fun bunch, you know? So many people have a nerdy fascination with pirates, so they’re coming out of the woodwork for it.”
MacLellan expects it will similarly strike Halifax fans.
“I’m from Nova Scotia, and I lived in Halifax for a long time before I went to TNB. I feel like I kind of understand the flavour of the city, and I think this is something that people will love. Our proximity to the ocean. Our long nautical history. This is really something that I think this province and this city will get a big kick out of.”
Beyond its ability to convey female characters with strength and conviction, the play also had plenty of time to simmer. With Theatre New Brunswick originally scheduled to perform Heroine in 2020, before the pandemic hit and threw their plans off track, it is important to the cast and crew that this is the play they’re bringing to Halifax.
“I know there’s a lot of people who would have seen the first version of it, who would’ve seen the first version of it, and I’d encourage them to come see it again. You don’t often get to see plays done differently, see them a second time. I’d encourage everyone to come see it again, because the two actors are doing a really great job and I just want everyone to see them.”
Heroine is playing at the Bus Stop Theatre from March 17 to 22. Tickets can be purchased for the production here.