Stolen Chair Theatre Company

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Synopsis

The Accidental Patriot... is what Sophocles might have written it if he'd been under contract to Warner Brothers. This original 1930s-style swashbuckler is set against the tumultuous backdrop of the American Revolution. Mashing together Greek tragedy and Errol Flynn-era pirate films, it features both rapier duels and rapier wit as it satirizes heroism, patriotism, altruism, and all of the other “-isms” that move us to action.

British privateer Desmond Connelly takes up the colonists' cause when a British admiral murders his best friend, a Bostonian patriot. He abandons his post to become a pirate, seeking his vengeance and sailing towards the destiny that will reveal his mysterious parentage

Part 3 of the CineTheatre Tetralogy:
4 years, 4 productions, 4 classic film styles adapted for the stage...

Press for The Accidental Patriot

"I'm going to be keeping an eye on this theater company...Go-for-broke humor and pre-method acting aplomb. I'd recommended this to any of you seeking a different sort of entertainment adventure this weekend. It's only a few bucks pricier than a movie ticket and it's freakin' live theater."
-Film Experience

"Happily over-the-top, rollicking fun. (Think The Princess Bride)"
-New York Cool

"Stolen Chair Theatre Company's latest play has the wonderfully long title The Accidental Patriot: The Lamentable Tragedy of the Pirate Desmond Connelly, Irish by Birth, English by Blood, and American by Inclination. The style of the show is embedded in that mouthful: here is a play that mashes up classic swashbuckling romance (the part of the title before the colon) with classical Greek tragedy, and playful meta-theatrical parody with a serious investigation of what it means to be an American (both in the 1770s, when the play is set, and today)...The Accidental Patriot is a great deal of fun, thanks to the exquisitely smart script by Kiran Rikhye, the fluent and exciting staging offered by Stancato, some terrific performances (notably Liza Wade White as the play's heroine; Sarah Stephens as the other principal female character, an outspoken and noble Irish-American saloon proprietress named Cassie Walker; David Berent as the tragedy's key antagonist, Lord Jarvis; and Noah Schultz as the liveliest and funniest member of the chorus), an Irish- and American-tinged folk score arranged by Emily Otto and Raphael Biran and performed mostly by Biran, and a nifty set by David Bengali that—at its finest, depicting the deck of a pirate ship—is absolutely stunning.

The story of The Accidental Patriot concerns a young man named Desmond Connelly, who as the title tells us was born in Ireland, the son of a poor Irish woman and a British military man. When we first meet him, in 1772, he's in Boston, working successfully as a privateer in the service of King George III. When Desmond's friend, the budding American patriot Thomas Beauford, is insulted and then murdered by a contingent of British soldiers under the command of Lord Benjamin Jarvis, Desmond vows revenge. This takes the unlikely form of Desmond's assumption of Thomas's cause: he becomes a pirate, determined to plunder the ships of his former employer/now enemy King George...and to kill Jarvis.

Rikhye's script packs in an enormous number of surprise turns, particularly given that the play's antecedents are so familiar to us. So I don't want to give much away here, lest I spoil your experience at the show. All I will reveal is the one completely obvious turn of the plot, namely that Desmond and Jarvis's only daughter, Georgiana, meet and fall instantly in love (though their romance takes a sort of Beatrice/Benedick route before either of them completely realizes what has happened).

I'll also tell you that the outlines of a proper Greek tragedy are adhered to, including the utilization of a chorus of patriots who speak and often sing exposition and reactions to the plot's developments. But the overall tone of The Accidental Patriot is far more light-hearted than anything Sophocles every cooked up, due in no small part to the large energetic cast, the numerous battle sequences (choreographed by Barbara Charlene), and the detached and sometimes parodic tone of Rikhye's text. Scenes lifted from the swashbuckler films that are the play's main model are often hilariously executed; there is one in particular where Desmond dines with his enemy Jarvis, Jarvis's son, and Georgiana, that is extremely funny. Stancato's lively transitions between scenes also keep the show's tone and pace swift and not too serious.

And yet, all of that said, there is a serious purpose to the proceedings, and not merely the somewhat academic one of seeing what happens when two genres—one from pop culture, one from classical drama—collide. At the core of The Accidental Patriot is a very timely and resonant consideration of what freedom means, and what personal choices are required to achieve and maintain it. The bravery and integrity of many of the story's supporting characters—Thomas Beauford, Cassie Walker—contain the real seeds of patriotism that underlay the creation of America. How many Americans today would sacrifice as they do in the play?

The Accidental Patriot is the most ambitious project yet for the still-young Stolen Chair Theatre Company. Resident playwright Kiran Rikhye's writing continues to astonish in its skillfulness and versatility and humor. Her co-artistic director Jon Stancato flexes his muscles as one of his generation's most imaginative and daring directors...in terms of both audacity and entertainment value it's a fine example of indie theater at its best...and a harbinger of still greater things to come from this remarkable troupe."
-Martin Denton
NYtheatre.com

Excerpted from Act 1: Scene 1 of The Accidental Patriot
Copyright ©2008, Kiran H. Rikhye. All rights reserved. SCENE 1

                        Enter Edward Davies and several sailors of his crew.

DAVIES:        A drink, woman, and quickly.
CASSIE:         Welcome to Walker’s, gentlemen.
DAVIES:        We don’t need your welcome. The people of your city haven’t given us much of one.
CASSIE:         You must excuse the Bostonians, sir. Set in their opinions, we are, and sometimes we don’t feel too kindly toward the crown.
DAVIES:        We are not sent by the crown. My name is Captain Edward Davies, and I am sent by the English East India Company, come to give you Bostonians your tea for the best price you’ve e’er seen. It seems the people of your city are having some difficulty grasping that fact. Now be a sweet girl and give us a drink. And none of your balderdash—only good fresh beer, if such a thing exists in this godforsaken village.
SAILOR 1:     [To a woman in the tavern] Come on, my pretty wench. Come and sit with us will you?
WOMAN 1:    Watch your hands.
CASSIE:         I’ll have none of that here.
SAILOR 1:     It’s not my fault, love.
DAVIES:        A drink, I said. Can you Americans not speak English?
DESMOND: Have you Englishmen come here drunk already, sir, or do you forget your manners sober?
DAVIES:        I beg your pardon.
                        A woman in the tavern slaps a sailor. He laughs and knocks a glass off the table.
SAILOR 2:     All we ask is a warm port after our long journey.
DAVIES:        That is what your Boston women are good for, is it not? Stand aside.
DESMOND: Most willingly, as soon as you have made your apologies to Mrs. Walker and to these gentlewomen.
DAVIES:        My apologies?
                        Davies reaches for his sword, but Desmond has beaten him to it. Desmond holds Davies at swordpoint.
DAVIES:        You will suffer for this insult.
DESMOND: I find it hard to take seriously the threats of a man who cannot control his own men. In my line of work, we would say such a man scarce deserved his lapels. To whom do you answer?
                        Jarvis enters.
JARVIS:         To me.
CASSIE:         Benjamin Jarvis!
JARVIS:         Do I know you?
CASSIE:         Of course you do; it’s I, Cassie Walker. From Rosslare. I knew you when you were a young man, in love with sweet departed…
JARVIS:         [Cutting her off] I am afraid you are mistaken.
DESMOND: Benjamin Jarvis?
JARVIS:         Admiral Lord Jarvis.
CASSIE:         Do not ask him too much, sweet boy. Be careful what you wish to know.
DESMOND: What can you mean, Cassie?
                        She does not answer.
DESMOND: Your men have been behaving in a manner ill befitting a British crew.
JARVIS:         It distresses me to hear that.
DESMOND: Surely you and I can settle the matter like civilized gentlemen. We have all been blessed with God’s gift of Reason.
THOMAS:    The noblest of all His gifts.
JARVIS:         Such lofty sentiments from you…what was it you called yourselves? Gentlemen. Now tell me, what is an American gentleman? I have met what passes for one. A sorry little fellow dressed in fashions that would be the envy of my valet.
THOMAS:     Is this what has become of England’s men? All turned to tyrants and savages? Blind and deaf to Reason and Equality?
DESMOND: Steady on.
JARVIS:         Such passion from one so uncivilized. I see it is true what they say about the American colonists and their animal instincts.   The fault is not yours. Simpletons beget simpletons. It is a question of breeding.
CASSIE:         Breeding, you say. Think what you say, Lord Jarvis. Your words’ll come back to echo in your ears.
JARVIS:         What the devil are you talking about? The Irishwoman feels for the American colonists.
DESMOND: You take advantage of our American good nature.
THOMAS:     [Rising] And I shall offer you mine no longer. You may only push an Englishman so far before he forgets himself.
JARVIS:         You really do fancy yourselves Englishmen!
THOMAS:     I am as proud to be one as you are, sir; though to be like you is a disgrace for which I might almost forsake the title of Englishman altogether.
DESMOND: Steady….
JARVIS:         Is that so?
THOMAS:     It is, sir.
JARVIS:         Well then I think you should forsake it.
THOMAS:     I beg your pardon.
JARVIS:         Did you not hear? I say, renounce the name of Englishman. It is wasted on such a one as you. Go on.
THOMAS:     I will do no such thing.
JARVIS:         It’s easily done. Here, I will show you how. You must only say, “I am no Englishman.”   Come, you insolent puppy.
THOMAS:     I have only this to say to you, sir.
                        Thomas slaps Jarvis.
DAVIES:        Good God!
JARVIS:         [To Davies] It’s all right, my son. [To Thomas] Let’s see if your steel is as sharp as your tongue, boy.
THOMAS:     You cannot mean a duel?
JARVIS:         I do.
THOMAS:     Very well.
DESMOND: Thomas, don’t be a fool.
THOMAS:     Have I any other choice?
DESMOND: And what of Reason?
THOMAS:     What of my good name? My dignity? The dignity of all Englishmen.
JARVIS:         Englishmen! [Laughs] Come, let us fight.
DESMOND: It is madness; he cannot.
THOMAS:     [To Desmond] Give me your sword.
DESMOND: He’s ne’er wielded a weapon in his life.
JARVIS:         Pity he didn’t think of that before he forced my hand.
DESMOND: It was you who provoked him. I beg you; you cannot in good conscience…
THOMAS:     Give me your sword!
                        Desmond hands over his sword.
JARVIS:         [To Davies] Come, my son.
DAVIES:        I come.
                        Exit Jarvis and Thomas, followed by Desmond and Davies.
                        The Chorus gathers to watch the duel (which is occurring offstage).
CASSIE:         [To the fiddler] For God’s sake, don’t just stand there; play something.
                                    The fiddler plays.
MAN 7:          Thomas Beauford has fallen.
The fiddler stops playing. Several men exit. The men reenter, carrying Thomas’s body. Thomas dies. Desmond enters.
DESMOND: Fresh water and rum, Cassie! Come, Thomas. Come! It cannot be. Thomas.
MAN 1:           Where is the villain?
DESMOND: Gone, and his men gone with him. That he might have stayed to fight me, the coward.
CASSIE:         Better he should go.
DESMOND: “Reason is not everything,” he said. “Loyalty and honor hold sway too.” And he left, without staying to see if his opponent lived or died.
CASSIE:         And what good would it have done if he had stayed? You cannot bring the boy back.
DESMOND: No, I cannot. Was it worth it, Thomas? To die for such a petty thing. To be called an Englishman. Faith, I’d have called you an Englishman or any other name you liked. It was your gift of reason that he feared. A man like you could stir the American colonists to fight for liberty, if given the chance. Well, let him not think that because he has killed you like a coward he can lay his fears to rest. Your cause means nothing to me, Thomas, and yet from this day forward I will take it on as my own; faith, I will fight with all my heart for it. Let me no longer be a privateer. [He tears up his letter of marque.]
CASSIE:         What can you mean?
DESMOND: I’ll to sea at once and fight to gain the rights of all Englishmen, just as you would have, had you lived. Alas, Thomas, I was not blessed with your gift for words, and what you would have achieved by the pen, I can only achieve by the sword.   But I shall achieve it, though it take my whole life to do so. And I shall pursue the coward who took you from me.
CASSIE:         Desmond, no…
DESMOND: I swear I will find him.
CASSIE:         Heed me words; ‘tis a fool’s errand you set out on. You’ll bring yourself more pain than you know.
DESMOND: And what should that matter? I was born of a father’s guilt and a mother’s tragedy. Such a son must indeed be destined for a life of suffering. Fate herself has planned my course. I sail tonight. Men! Who will join me?
MAN 1:           I, Desmond. I will join you in your mission of revenge.
DESMOND: Revenge, no. It is a mission of justice. Who will defend the women of Boston, if not we who are gathered here? Who will prevent more innocent blood from being spilled, if not we who are gathered here? Who will defend us from calumny, servitude, and taxation, if not we who are gathered here? Who will honor the memory of Thomas Beauford, if not we? And who will fight for his dream of equality and liberty for all Englishmen? It must be we. I see some of you hesitate, but in such matters there is no room for doubt. Do you not feel the tug of fate, pulling you forward?

The men respond with shouts of “Aye,” and “I do!” etc.

DESMOND: Come. I will lay down our laws, and let all those who would join me sign here below. Let those who think Americans cannot govern themselves look to this document to see otherwise. Paper, Cassie! [Desmond dictates] “We, the undersigned, being British men, do here commit ourselves to a life of piracy upon the open seas. We shall patrol the American shores and protect the noble cities of the colonies from whomsoever may threaten them. Ours shall be a band of equals, under the command of Captain Desmond Connelly. We will govern ourselves as reason and liberty dictate, following the laws put forward in this document, just as one day all American colonists will govern themselves. We unite in defense of a noble cause, and with the knowledge that all booty captured from British ships will be divided equitably amongst our band. Those who can sign, sign. Those who cannot, make your mark and that will do. Who will join me?
Shouts of “I!” “I will!” “Pass it here!”
DESMOND: Who would fight for American freedom?
More shouts.
DESMOND: Who sails with me?
                        More shouts. The men line up to sign the document.
CASSIE:         God protect you, me boy.
Exit Desmond.

Synopsis

Production History

Press for The Accidental Patriot

Research