Pirate Queen Tickets

About Pirate Queen

The Pirate Queen is a musical show. The show depicts the life of a 16th century women Grace O' Malley who was an Irish pirate, chieftain and adventuress. Claude- Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil are the writers of the show while John Dempsey being the co- lyricist.

Grace O' Malley's whole life has been summarized in few lines by Sir Henry Sydney,English Lord Deputy in 1576. He describes her as "'...a most famous feminine sea captain...with three galleys and two hundred fighting men. She brought with her her husband for she was as well by sea as by land well more than Mrs Mate with him This was a notorious woman in all the coasts of Ireland."

Grace O' Malley born in 1530 to the chieftain Umhall territory situated on Ireland's west coast. According to the custom she was married to the chieftain of Ballinahinch, Donal-an-Cogaidh. She gave birth to three children with him. But Donal was killed by the the Joyce clan while defending the Cock's Castle. Joyce soon ventured out to capture the castle but to their disbelief castle was regained through the heroic effort of Grace and was renamed Hen's Castle. Grace again got married in 1566 by her own choice to Richard Bourke who owned the Rockfleet Castle. Her marriage to Richard was trial marriage fro one year. Once her her men took the control of the castle and her ships anchored in its harbour she divorced her husband. Although later they reconciled and had a son named Theobald.

Grace's military genius and leadership qualities came to the forefront when England tried to expand and colonize Ireland. When the English Generals tried to contain her she got rebellious arousing their anger and awe against her. After the death of Richard in 1583, she established her rights over Rockfleet Castle. In 1585, Sir Richard Bingham who was made the Governor of Connaught, marked the a turning point in Grace's life as Connaught was her home province. She rebelled against Bingham for his cruel rule on Connaught.. But Bingham retaliated and killed Grace's eldest son Owen O'Flaherty.

In 1593, Bingham captured Tibbot her youngest son. As Grace was convinced that Bingham won't do justice to her she send her correspondence to Queen Elizabeth in England. But Grace had to soon leave for England after Bingham threatened to hang her son. Using her sharp diplomatic and political sense she even got a letter of introduction from Earl of Ormond, relative of Elizabeth and came face to face with the Queen. Finally through sheer brilliance Grace convinced the Queen, saved her son , ensured security of her family and kept intact her prestige and freedom till her death in 1603.

The Pirate Queen will make debut on 3rd October in 2006 at Cadillac Palace Theatre in Chicago. It will run through 26th November 2006. Come and watch a heroic tale of a 16 century women. For tickets you can contact us.