Performers portal

There is a collection of islands that bathe in a sea of teal and green, beyond any ocean or island you may know, is a place that emulates a world much like our own. This collection of islands is known as The Corpus Isles, Corpus meaning, body. 

This other realm, this land of mystical islands, is much like Great Britain 300 years ago. A landscape with fishing harbours, small villages, treasure coves, stormy seas and rugged coastal terrain. This alternate reality has the aesthetic of both 17th century history and fantasy in the same space. 

The Corpus Isles, when viewed on a map, perfectly resemble the shape of an underwater Sea Beast. With a head, a torso and a tail.

At the head is Buccaneer Island. Teeming with dark and sinister citizens of the Isles, those running from the law, pirates, thieves, men and women who love to indulge themselves in the lust of the flesh.

Between Buccaneer and Torso is the Cataclysmic Sea, upon the surface and in the deep is misty and mysterious reefs and small islands that no one dares to inhabit. The Cataclysmic Sea is swarming with enchanted sirens, harrowing sea storms and chaos lying beneath the surface of the water. Only the brave and foolish sail through the Cataclysmic Sea. 

In the centre is Torso, the governing City of the Corpus Isles, unlike Buccaneer they are refined and known for their great power, wealth and system of law. The surrounding islands call them silk stocking, powdered nose, upper crust. 

At the bottom of the map is Ada Island, in the shape of a tail, it sits under every other island, geographically, economically and socially it sits at the bottom. Working class citizens who are poor, kind, generous and seek to serve the greater good of mankind. 

It is within this world that our story unfolds. The musical begins with a rugged Captain Delmore, who guards an illuminating trap door, something sinister is underneath and the Captain holds the key. A young sailor (a young lad who becomes King Girevance) seeks to release what is underneath. He retrieves the key from the Captain and opens the portal beneath. At this moment, a purple fog pours out from the trap door and unleashes the power of an ancient Sea Beast and with it, a curse upon the Corpus Isles. 

Pouring out like bubble and froth, the curse is unleashed upon the islands and the people who call it home. A distinct mark appears on the inner forearm of each citizen in the shape of a skull. From this moment the Beast influences every human heart and every thought of the people who bear its mark (NO THIS IS NOT THE MARK OF THE BEAST) The people turn to hating, controlling or fearing their sister island. Captain Delmore must find a way to remove the curse and the mark it bears on its victims. Life must go on and so each island finds their own way to cope with the curse and its effects. Torso tries to hide the mark and fills its days with frivolous activities, balls and festivals. It is at a Torso ball we first meet The Governor, Captain Caiaphas, his wife Priscilla, Charlotte and her son Jude.  At the ball we discover that Captain Caiaphas hopes to set out on a new venture, one that would include eradicating the existence of pirates. He requests the Governor to sign off on his new expedition and the Governor decides to decide at a later time. 

Jude asks Captain Caiaphas at the ball for a Purser position on the Pharisea but Caiaphas instead gives Jude a job on the docks of Torso as a Wharfinger. This is humiliating for Jude but nonetheless he accepts. 

On the docks of Torso we meet Peter, James and Jonathan who come from Ada Island and work for Torso in supplying and trading fish. The men are underpaid, overworked and treated unfairly by the Torso trade and dock office. Yet the men must do their duty and protect their families from the strict laws and governance of Torso. 

On the docks of Torso is where Captain Delmore assembles his crew, inviting them to come aboard his ship, The Ecclesia. Captain Delmore supplies these particular  fishermen with more than enough fish to be released from their duties (for a short time), It is here that the three fishermen, Peter, James and Jonathan climb aboard The Ecclesia. With Captain Caiaphas on their case the crew need the assistance of the new Wharfinger, Jude, who also makes a quick escape with the men and joins the crew of Captain Delmore. Captain Caiaphas is not impressed and commits to finding out who this Captain Delmore is, and is pleased to merge his obsession with Captain Delmore with his taste for pirate blood. 

The crew getaway from Torso and dock at Ada Island, this is the homeland of James, Jonathan, Peter and his wife Jo, and Peter’s sister Andie. On this island, the Captain recruits Andie and Peter must find a way to tell Jo that a new adventure awaits on a ship called The Ecclesia, and that she must once again say goodbye to him. Jo is strong and resourceful, she finds herself in the narrative and on the crew in the end, but it takes her a while to get there. 

The entire crew come together and begin their voyage. Captain Delmore gives the crew very little detail on where they are going and why, and so the crew faithfully sail on with high hopes of adventure. Throughout the voyage, the crew ride upon a speedy moon tide, a deathly sea storm and are enchanted and attacked by a swarm of sirens, they come across an ancient mermaid’s treasure, an ancient mermaid who longs to be free from the grip of her sirens. Magdala Mermaid is freed from her tail and scales and joins the crew with a new name and new purpose. Throughout their voyage the crew are faced with the curse of the beast within themselves, young men and women lusting, coveting, fearing, failing and wrestling with their own personal identity. Lastly they dock on the shores of Buccaneer. 

The island of Buccaneer is where the presence of the Beast is most near. The Beast lurks the seas and shores that surround this island, and it is home to the pirates, thieves and savages of the Corpus Isles. The crew begin to unravel and turn on one another and Captain Delmore is not phased nor surprised at his crew falling apart and turning on one another, especially when Jude separates himself from the crew and what his Captain has asked him to do. Delmore escapes from the chaos of the pirates and invites James, Jonathan and Peter to a quiet place. As they escape, Captain Caiaphas and his men dock on the shores of Buccaneer and as mentioned at the start, Caiaphas intends to spill pirate blood and settle a feud he has with old King Grievance. This is a good old action scene between Torso and Buccaneer. Imagine absolute chaos across the stage, brawling, swords and pistols firing. King Grievance is caught and Jude pledges allegiance to Torso and its cause. Commodore Caiaphas questions Jude’s loyalty and Jude convinces the Commodore, by turning Delmore over to the hands of Caiaphas. 

Torso wins the battle at Buccaneer and it also wins the war by arresting Captain Delmore and King Grievance on the same night. Torso occupies the newly fought island and holds it’s annual festival on Buccaneer in celebration of the victory. This is a dark and sinister scene where the whole island celebrates the impending death of one of the newly caught prisoners, Torso becomes more pirate than Buccaneer itself and the people decide to free King Grievance and execute Captain Delmore for the small crime of opposing Torso law. 

Captain Delmore is made to walk the plank and be fed to the Beast who roams the seas of Buccaneer. The city cheers and the Captain is shot off a plank and into the sea, dead he sinks into the belly of the Beast. Dead he lays in the dark and the cold, but still aware of his surroundings he shivers and coughs. Like an outer body experience, he is aware that he is dead and knows he has been separated from the land of the living and somehow he knows that he will return there once again. He is taunted and haunted by sirens and a skeleton (representing death) and so he begins to sing an ancient Sea shanty about Jonah and the whale, and this stirs and unnerves the Beast. And every deathly creature in the belly of the Beast holds him back from his sudden resurrection, but he persists and throws them back and is spat out of death and into the ocean.

In our final scene we are back with the crew who are devastated at the loss of their beloved Captain. The crew return to their fishing boats on Ada Island and wrestle with the emptiness and mundane tasks at hand. Their lack of purpose causes them to quarrel, lash out and long for the days on the Ecclesia with Captain Delmore. In an ordinary moment, one of the crew discovers the mark on their arm is smeared from the water in the nets. Taking a rag they smudge the mark on their arms and wonder what this could mean. Captain Delmore has left small hints and clues to be found that lead the crew to believe he could be alive. Most importantly, the Captains hat is found and has Peter’s name on the inside, appointing him as the new Captain of the Ecclesia. 

The musical ends on a new adventure as Torso docks on Ada Island, with the intention of arresting the crew as traitors of Torso. And for their affiliation with Captain Delmore. Torso soldiers led by Caiaphas chase the crew off stage as they sing Adventure Calls. Cutting to black Captain Delmore sings behind a ship wheel, to the audience he sings about finding (YOU) the audience member, in another world someday.