THEATER OF
THRILLS AND HIGH ADVENTURE!
"The Piratical Voyages of Captain Roderick Reef!"
by Richard Nathan
Before the lights come up, a voice introduces the story:
VOICE
Avast, me hearties! Climb aboard the
good ship Roving Finn, and raise the Jolly
Roger! 'Tis time to set sail with bravest
pirate ever to cruise the Spanish Main! 'Tis
time to join The Piratical Voyages of
Captain Roderick Reef!!!
Lights come up on the Captain's Cabin on the good ship Roving Finn! But the Captain in not in. Lying on the floor, dying is CAPTAIN LOPEZ and his daughter JUANITA. Juanita is disguised as a cabin boy. They both speak with heavy Spanish accents.
CAPTAIN LOPEZ
Daughter, you must be brave. My eyes grow
dim as my bones grow cold. I must repay my
debt to God! I fear... I fear the end is near!
JUANITA
The end is near? You mean you're going to die?
CAPTAIN LOPEZ
You always were a bright girl! Summon the
pirate Captain. We must trust he will be
merciful!
JUANITA
But, Father... he is a pirate English dog!
CAPTAIN LOPEZ
True. But I feel there is something noble about
him.
JUANITA
It is true he is perhaps the handsomest man I
have ever seen, with eyes like a storm at sea,
and teeth as white as the foaming surf, but can
we trust a pirate?
CAPTAIN LOPEZ
We are his prisoners! We have no choice.
JUANITA
If you say so. I will call the Captain.
She goes to the door of the cabin and shouts to the deck:
JUANITA
Captain! We need to speak to you!
A moment later the dashing CAPTAIN RODERICK REEF arrives.
REEF
Good morning, Captain Lopez. I hope you've
been enjoying my cabin. It's not often I lend it to
a Spanish prisoner and his cabin boy, but given
the state of your wounds...
CAPTAIN LOPEZ
Captain, I have a confession to make. This is not
my cabin boy!
REEF
He is not? Then who is the lad?
CAPTAIN LOPEZ
She is my daughter, Juanita Lopez! When you
attacked my ship, and I saw that all was lost, I
disguised her as a cabin boy.
Juanita takes off her cap and lets her hair down. She doesn't look very different than she did at the start of the scene, but it's enough to convince Reef that she is a woman.
REEF
Very clever! Just the sort of thing I would have
done,
had I a daughter! But why tell me now?
CAPTAIN LOPEZ
Because I am dying! And I must trust you to
protect her from your pirate crew.
REEF
That may take some doing. But I will protect her!
You have my word!
JUANITA
The word of a pirate!
REEF
The word of Captain Roderick Reef.
CAPTAIN LOPEZ
You are Roderick Reef! I should have known it was
you. Only Roderick Reef would have attacked with
such cunning and bravery! Juanita, you are safe. Even
his enemies say Captain Reef is a man of his word!
And now... I die!
He dies. Juanita wails her heart out. Captain Reef takes her in his arms to comfort her. She breaks away from him.
JUANITA
Take your hands off me, you English pig! You
and your pirate crew... you killed my father, and
his entire crew!
REEF
True, my lady. But you must confess, some of
the fault was his! If he had surrendered when we
first raised the Jolly Roger, no one would have
been hurt!
JUANITA
Would you not fight to protect what is yours?
REEF
Yes, but I would win!
JUANITA
No wonder you are a pirate! With morals like
that, what else could you be?
REEF
I could have been a nobleman, if I'd had the right parents.
But my father was a farmer. I knew the only way I
could live my life as I chose, and not be ruled by
others, was to become a pirate. And that is what I did.
JUANITA
And you steal gold from the Spanish.
REEF
Who stole it from the natives. It's a grim world we
live in, my fair Spanish lady.
Enter MAD JOE THE PIRATE.
MAD JOE
Harrr, Cap'n! Me thinks I've seen another
Spanish ship. Laden with gold, if we be lucky!
Harrr!
Mad Joe notices Juanita with her hair down!
MAD JOE
Cap'n! Be this not a poxy woman? Harrr! She
be a poxy woman, or my name be not Mad Joe
The Pirate!
Mad Joe leers at Juanita! She grabs hold of Captain Reef in fear!
REEF
She is a woman, Mad Joe, and she's under my
protection!
MAD JOE
Harr, Cap'n! That be against the rules, that be!
Every pirate knows, no woman comes
aboard a pirate ship and lives,
unless she be a
pirate herself! That woman be no pirate, you
can lay to that! So she must die!
REEF
This woman will live. I have given my word as
Captain!
MAD JOE
Harrr! Then maybe it be time for a new Cap'n!
Mad Joe and Reef draw their swords and a duel is on! As the sword fight continues, Mad Joe and Captain Reef trade verbal barbs.
MAD JOE
Harr! I always thought you was too courtly
to be a pirate!
REEF
I always thought you too crude to be a man!
MAD JOE
Your fancy talk won't save you now!
REEF
Then I'll rely on my fancy blade!
MAD JOE
When I be done with you, you'll be finished!
REEF
I'm finished now!
Reef runs his blade through Mad Joe! Mad Joe dies!
JUANITA
That beast would have killed me!
She runs to his arms and kisses him! Reef gently pushes her away.
REEF
I don't know what you've heard about
other pirates, but Captain Reef doesn't
kiss cabin boys!
JUANITA
Cabin boys?
REEF
`
That's right, Juanita, - or should I say Juan.
Better put up your hair and put
that hat back
on and tuck your hair in before I introduce you
to the crew
as my new cabin boy! Hurry up,
Juan! It's time to set sail for adventure!
BLACKOUT!
THE END
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scripts
© 2005 by Richard Nathan. All rights reserved
The author grants all internet uses to print these scripts for their own, personal, non-commercial use. No other use may be made without the author's permission. Without limiting the foregoing, the plays may not be staged without the author's express permission.
Send e-mail to the author at Richard-Nathan@att.net.