7:30pm
Forty years after its groundbreaking premiere an iconic piece of British queer theatre returns for a new generation.
For centuries four women pirates have been lying on a wreck at the bottom of the sea.
Grace O’Malley, Aku, Mary Read and Zoa have drifted through time unperturbed by the progress of the modern age. Until 1985 when they were visited by Jenny who took their stories into the 1980’s.
In 2026 Jenny falls through time again and lands on their long-forgotten shipwreck, armed with nothing but a mobile phone and a head full of questions.
Blending history, mythology and contemporary politics with humour, music and. Storytelling “Raising The Wreck – Revisited” is a bold re-imagining of Sue Frumin’s pioneering play. Originally commissioned by Gay Sweatshop Theatre Company the production was one of the first British plays to feature a multi-racial cast of women and to place lesbian stories.
Joelle Taylor, TS Eliot Prize-winning poet described the original production as
“A pioneering piece of unapologetically women’s theatre, loud, vibrant, hilarious and somehow holy”.
Booker Prize winning author Bernardine Evaristo, who appeared in the original cast remembers it as:
“A ground-breaking drama, bringing lesbian lives to the fore”.
Powerful, provocative and unexpectedly joyful, “Raising The Wreck – Revisited” is an unforgettable theatre voyage that celebrates those history tried to erase and asks what stories we choose to carry in to the future.
Alongside the production selected venues will also host creative workshops featuring storytelling, maritime heritage and traditional sea shanties in partnership with local communities.
By Sue Frumin
Directed by Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder
Designed by Lara Booth