Review: THE PIRATE QUEEN, London Coliseum

Some might consider The Pirate Queen an odd choice for a producing debut, but Tom Gribby clearly has an affection for the material. And no one can question the credentials of the great Boublil and Schönberg - most notable for writing the book and score to Les Misérables and Miss Saigon.

The Pirate Queen follows the story of central character Grace O'Malley, who convinces her father to let her sail with him on the maiden voyage of The Pirate Queen. Whilst at sea, the ship gets into trouble and Grace saves the day, proving her mettle and eventually leading to her becoming the ship's Chief. The bulk of the story follows what happens next, as she fights for her place in a male-dominated world and navigates her desire to be respected and powerful, as well as loved.

I'm sad to say that The Pirate Queen, narratively speaking, doesn't live up to those greater works that went before it. The book is simplistic and unclear with very little character development. The most interesting thing about it is the strong thread of feminism and female empowerment running through the central character of Grace, and Queen Elizabeth I. This feels relevant and relatable.

In fact, the scenes between Grace and Elizabeth were the most poignant and touching of all, due almost entirely to the skills and likeability of Rachel Tucker and Hannah Waddingham respectively. Tucker feels like the obvious choice to play a fiery Irish renegade and she owns this role - she's ballsy without overplaying it and going too big. In classic Tucker fashion, she belts for England and breaks your heart all in one breath. Scene-stealing Waddingham was on fine form here as Queen Elizabeth - and thank God for her comedic chops, bringing some lightness to the proceedings.

The semi-staging worked well and the graphics at the top of the stage added much-needed context to the scene switches...although the overall atmosphere was not particularly enhanced by them. The sound issues plaguing Act I were unfortunate and led to a much less powerful opening than I suspect they would have liked.

The score is entirely what you would expect from Schönberg - it feels like a mashup of his back catalogue, with rousing anthem after rousing anthem, and a few lighter, 'poppy' tunes to change the pace. None of it is particularly memorable, although it was all sung incredibly capably by an impressive cast. There is no escaping the 'Irishness' of the thing, as the score relies heavily on Uilleann pipes and whistles to give it a Celtic feel - all executed beautifully by Julian Kelly's 11-piece orchestra.

Is this an unmissable, sweeping drama that brings you to tears or to the edge of your seat? No. With a cast of this calibre, it's an enjoyable few hours, but the book needs a lot of work to make it the 'epic' that it purports itself to be.

The Pirate Queen was at the London Coliseum on 23 February

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