Pirate Queen – site-specific theatre for all the family (Green Room Productions NI)

While beforehand I always worry about the effect of the weather on outdoor theatre performances, I should be more relaxed as shows like Tinderbox’s Sylvan worked in the drizzle and any number of perambulatory walking tours wearing headphones have survived extreme heat and damp conditions.

Leaving the weather aside, a better concern should be whether there’s an ice cream van near the stage. That was the case in the playpark outside Millisle, but may not be for next week’s sold out production of A Midsummer Night's Dream by the Lyric Theatre.

As we stood around the boat-shaped climbing frame in the playground, a musical intro and some ‘parish announcements’ set the relaxed tone for the 30 minute performance of Pirate Queen.

It’s a child-friendly account of the life and times of Gráinne Ní Mháille (Grace O’Malley, often Anglicised to Granuaile) who was born in 1530 and unlike many of her children and husbands lived to the ripe old age of 73.

She picked up a love of the sea from her father and was initially disappointed to be married off to landlubber Dónal an Chogaidh Ó Flaithbheartaigh: good for building alliances between clans, but not so good for swashbuckling adventures on the high seas.

However, his death was followed by the opportunity for Granuaile to “defend her people against the English oppressor”, leading to a 1593 audience with Queen Elizabeth and a peaceful if not immediate resolution of hostilities (after a fashion).

The story zips along, never more than a few minutes away from another song – beautiful harmonies from the three actors who also played drums, fiddle, tin whistle and guitar – or the chance to walk around the climbing frame ship to view proceedings from another angle. Lots of interruptions, humorous asides, and very gentle audience participation. And only in a playground can actors ‘exit stage left’ down a plastic slide.

Cat Barter, Adam Dougal and Anna Keenan-Laverty weave in and out of English and Irish names and lyrics with ease, and managed to keep a twinkle in their eyes even as the sun burnt a hole in the bright blue sky and tried to melt them. Full of charm, yet not downplaying the treacherous times in which it’s set. Site-specific work can be challenging to write, perform, finance and produce. However, it can connect audiences with a place – even a wooden ship in a playground – in a way a traditional theatre space will take longer to achieve.

Pirate Queen was written by Clare McMahon, directed by Patsy Montgomery-Hughes and produced by Green Room Productions NI. It was performed in Ballywalter and Millisle, and will hopefully get a chance to set sail again.

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