The Pirates of Penzance

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Lighting Designer Jasmine Rizk

Sound Designer Daniel Herten

Cast (2025): Trevor Jones, Jay Laga’aia, Billie Palin, Brittanie Shipway & Maxwell Simon.

Cast (2026): Jonathon Holmes, Jay Laga’aia, Sarah Murr, Brittanie Shipway & Maxwell Simon. (Offstage Swing: Tana Laga’aia).

Director and Adaptor Richard Carroll

Assistant Director & Choreographer Shannon Burns

Co-Arranger & Musical Supervisor Victoria Falconer

Co-Arranger Trevor Jones

Set Designer Nick Fry

Costume Designer Lily Mateljan-Odgers

Five actors. Every role.

Hayes Theatre Co Artistic Directors Richard Carroll and Victoria Falconer raise the Jolly Roger with their acclaimed version of The Pirates of Penzance. Madcap, hilarious, and bursting with invention, Carroll’s sparkling new adaptation harnesses the irreverent, genre-busting spirit of Gilbert & Sullivan’s sprawling satirical masterwork and launches it into the 21st century with raucous new life.

And the wildest part? Just five actors play every role.

Together, this fearless ensemble conjures a world of Pirates, Lovers, Sisters, Major-Generals, and many, many more. Transforming in an instant, as costumes, voices and characters fly past at breakneck speed, it’s a breathtaking theatrical feat, with no safety net and truly “all hands on deck”.

A “riotous example” of Carroll and Falconer’s famous “What if?” approach to theatre-making, the production was hailed by The Sydney Morning Herald as “a stroke of hilarious genius.”

This is Gilbert & Sullivan like you’ve never seen it before: a full throttle tour de force, as five wildly outnumbered actors (swash) buckle up for an epic voyage. The original mega-musical – Re-wired. Re-booted. Re-DUCED!

Photos by John McRae.

Seasons

2025 The Art House, Wyong, Hayes Theatre Co Sydney, Merrigong Theatre Co, Canberra Theatre Centre

2026 The Foundry, Sydney

“Packs no shortage of delights… A practically perfect Pirates experience.” - Time Out

“The homespun aesthetic and knowing pratfalls hide a hugely sophisticated show... A classy new take on Gilbert 7 Sullivan’s much-loved, much-abused hit” - Sydney Morning Herald

“A delight… Witty, silly, exhilarating, irreverent, and exuberant.” - Stage Noise

By Gilbert & Sullivan. Adapted by Richard Carroll.

Musical arrangements by Victoria Falconer & Trevor Jones.

Presented by Hayes Theatre Co.

Generously Supported by the Russell Mills Foundation. Originally developed and presented in association with The Art House Wyong.