Call it a midlife crisis.
That’s the best answer local actor and director Zach Hanner can give for how Stede Bonnet, a wealthy, educated landowner, fell in with one of the most fearsome freebooters in history–Blackbeard.
It’s a page Hanner has lifted from the history books–adding a little song and dance and a lot of humor in the margins–for his new original play, “The Gentleman Pirate.”
The musical is running each Friday and Saturday through July 12 at TheatreNOW, 19 S. 10th St.
“The Gentleman Pirate,” which takes its name from Bonnet’s sobriquet, is a piece that, for Hanner, has been more than a decade in the making.
“My dad was a history teacher, so I was always interested in history,” he recalled. “And I [learned] about Stede Bonnet a dozen years ago or so. My buddy said, ‘That would make a great idea for a screenplay.’ So, I started writing it and got about 10 pages in and then it stalled.”
But when Hanner, artistic director for TheatreNOW, began planning this year’s run of shows, Bonnet and his misadventures with the infamous Blackbeard resurfaced.
“It just seemed like the perfect family friendly thing to do this summer,” he noted.
The true story goes like this: Bonnet, a Barbados-born member of the elite upper class, abandons his wife and family around the age of 30, commissions a ship, the Revenge, and sets sail on his new life as a pirate. Along the way, he meets Edward Teach, or Blackbeard, who is more than happy to help Bonnet lead his crew. Blackbeard shows him the ropes, so to speak, before ultimately double-crossing him and taking off with his ship, his men and his loot.
That’s all in Hanner’s play, and then some.
“There are some embellishments…I’d say it’s 98 percent historically accurate,” he said. “But the whole idea was to make it funny.”
And, he added, the comedic elements were right there in the facts.
There’s Bonnet, a bungling pirate who is too stubborn and snobbish to take the advice of the salty dogs who he pays to associate with him.
“Most pirates were already sailors…Stede Bonnet was definitely a neophyte when it came to sailing. And here everyone is giving him advice that he ignores because he thinks he is smarter than everyone else,” Hanner said.
Then, there’s Blackbeard. While his formidable countenance and ruthless reputation might not seem like the stuff of laughter, Hanner said don’t believe the hype–at least not all of it.
“The way I wrote him was funny,” he said. “Yes, he was big and fierce…but the truth of the matter is he didn’t kill that many people, and when he did, he made sure people heard about it.”
If Blackbeard was anything, Hanner added, it was wily.
After Bonnet and his men–along with the Revenge–were badly hurt in an attack on a Spanish man-of-war along the eastern seaboard, Blackbeard is only too happy to help by taking over the ship. Bonnet stayed on board as a guest but eventually set off on his own again.
Soon after, Bonnet and his men found themselves in very much the same predicament. Defeated by an armed merchantman off the coast of Honduras, Bonnet and his crew turned a second time to Blackbeard, who took over the Revenge while letting Bonnet stay on his now legendary ship, Queen Anne’s Revenge.
In June of 1718, the Queen Anne’s Revenge ran aground off the coast of North Carolina. While Bonnet was on dry land arranging, successfully, for pardons, Blackbeard sailed off, Bonnet’s loot in tow.
“I love the whole idea of the two of them being pardoned and then going back to being pirates–Blackbeard because he was just bored and Stede Bonnet out of desperation because he had lost all his money,” Hanner said.
Writing a whimsical pirate tale–complete with original music and a reworking of The White Stripe’s version of Patti Page’s song, “Conquest”–came easy enough for Hanner. Putting it on the small stage at TheatreNOW was a bit trickier.
A handmade boat on a rotating platform, which can be turned for onshore scenes, serves as the focal point. And in lieu of live pirate battles, old black-and-white footage plays behind the ship on a drop-down screen.
“I knew I couldn’t have 20 people out there doing sword fights,” he said.
The cast is small, as well, with several actors playing multiple roles–from pirate crew members to Charleston landlubbers.
Recent UNC-Wilmington graduate Cabot Basden is the Gentleman Pirate himself. Hanner, whose fascination with pirates spans decades, naturally stars opposite Basden.
“If I was going to write this thing and put it on, then, yeah, I get to be Blackbeard,” he said, laughing.
“The Gentleman Pirate” runs at 7 p.m. each Friday and Saturday. Doors open at 6. The dinner theater show includes a three-course meal for $38. Limited show-only seats are available for $24. Click here for tickets, a menu or more information.
Hilary Snow is a reporter at Port City Daily. Reach her at (910) 772-6341 or [email protected].
