Bonny & Read: A New Musical

A swirling and exciting new Australian musical that has been through many workshops, been supported by Playlab, has arrived in Sydney with nowhere near the attention from the media or the industry that it deserves.

Emily Whiting and Aiden Smith’s Bonny & Read is an historical musical set mostly on board a pirate ship in the 1700s. The background is actual and historic. It tells the story of Mary Read, a young woman who masquerades as a man on board the ship, and her eventual love affair with the Pirate Queen herself, Anne Bonney, a former abused wife of a Naval captain who is set on destroying his ex-wife and her band.

Presented at the wonderful little Loading Dock Theatre at Qtopia in Sydney, this is a story of love, courage, adventure and finding one’s place in the world that has been carefully researched by this wonderful team of writers.

As directed by Holly Mazzola, and choreographed by the amazing Lauren Mitchell, with lighting (which is tight and atmospheric) by Lung Na, what we find is a joyous adventure of love, lust and companionship that flows out of this theatre and into our hearts.

The production at times reminds of the glory days of Nimrod and Belvoir, where a rough house style and moments of impish improvisation made for a night of great and exciting theatre. This delightful show needs a bigger theatre where it can really shine and grow.

The show is superbly cast, lead by Gabi Lanham (outstanding vocals) as Mary Read and the boisterous, charismatic Tori Bullard as Anne Bonny. They share romantic duets in the second half, whereas much of the first half is full of boisterous song and dance with the choreography making the most of every inch of the small stage. The score by Whiting and Read is so accurate of the style of music of the era—both rambunctious and amusing and  also warm hearted and capturing the lilt of folk music of the late 1700s in England.

The rest of the cast is committed and strong, with special mention to the delightful Ben James as the rather camp and mischievous Pierre, Jack Mitsch and Elliot Aitken who share the role of the mysterious pirate Calico Jack, who are both vocally strong  and totally believable and Max Fernandez, adding another exciting chapter to an already burgeoning career leading the sea shanty singing in the first half with total charisma, then switching to the dark evil Captain James Bonny in Act Two. He grasps both roles with impressive theatrical confidence.

A great example of what can be achieved in independent theatre, this delightful two hours of song and history now needs support to grow and develop.

Les Solomon