Join us as Westcliff Drama takes to the high seas, this time with Gilbert and Sullivan’s rollicking, frolicking operetta The Pirates of Penzance. Pirates is surely the zippiest and most fun of these wonderful 19th century pieces, with Gilbert and Sullivan at their jolly collaborative best in numbers such as Pirate King, Catlike Tread, and A Policeman’s Lot. This promises to be an enjoyable evening of music and fun suitable for the whole family, and we hope you will join us in the Westcliff Theatre for this treat of a show. Tickets: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/whsb?sd=1

Young Frederic leaves his pirate shipmates when reaching the age of 21, and wanders ashore where he meets the Love of his Life, Mabel, together with her meddling medley of sisters. Her father is a Major-General and surely stout protection against potential piratical revenge. But when Frederic is recalled to the pirate band by a startling paradox, he is forced to reveal the military man’s weakness, and a terrific fight ensues between hapless policemen drafted in to help and the cut-throat Cornish corsairs, until, in the nick of time, all is saved.

Composer Arthur Sullivan’s collaborations with witty librettist William S. Gilbert have become some of the most celebrated pieces in English musical history. This comic opera was first performed on 31 December 1879 in New York City at Fifth Avenue Theatre. It made its London debut three months later on 3 April at the Opera Comique where it ran for 363 performances, and is considered by many to be the very best example of a Gilbert and Sullivan work.