If you are looking for a low-budget show to build (or re-build) your school's theater program, look no further than Gilbert & Sullivan's “Pirates of Penzance”.
With the music and script in the public domain, you can save a huge chunk of change on licensing fees. Read on to learn how you can produce this show at your school for under $101.
To preview the libretto, courtesy of the Gilbert & Sullivan Archive, click this link.
Peruse sheet music at https://imslp.org/wiki/The_Pirates_of_Penzance_(Sullivan,_Arthur)
Scenery
Choir Platforms were arranged upstage to depict the “Rocky Mountains” leading down to the seashore. This schematic [shown below] depicts a birds-eye view of the arrangement we used for a stage roughly 40’ across with a depth of 28’. In the resource Production Organizer: Pirates of Penzance, dimensions are calculated for larger and smaller stages.
A couple options for set decorations include:
Textured foam rocks
Butcher paper over terrain sculpted by chicken wire
Hanging blue fabric from the thrust (swags suggest waves)
Driftwood
We had a singular fly rail, which we used to hang the Union Jack. The flag was brought down during “Modern Major General”. Our junior high home economics class made the flag as part of the Junior High Olympics, so we had this on-hand. It cost us nothing!
A majority of Act 2 played out on the upper levels. These were lightly decorated with potted plants and decorative urns to depict the Stanley Family crypt. The pirate ship was removed and the empty space was used as an entrance and hiding area for the policemen.
For set construction, we repurposed this wood that was pulled from the ceiling during a housing
remodel. We also collected free pallet wood from local stores. With effort and creativity, it became our pirate ship and a few play swords too:
A trip to the hardware store for screws and hinges cost us $13. Paint (spray and acrylic) came in just under $16. To keep costs minimal, we borrowed a lot of greenery and repurposed scrap wood and fabric. As thrifty as we were, the scenery took up a majority of our budget at $54.10.
Props
This category was the most budget-friendly, coming in at only $15.40 total.
Handmade Props:
Lanterns (made of milk cartons + black paper)
Swords (repurposed lathe)
Bully Clubs (paper towel tubes + black paper)
Parchment (paper + tea stain)
Donated Items:
Lots of faux greenery, potted plants, and urns were donated over the years. We used these to decorate the upstage platform as the Stanley Family crypt. Shawls, blankets, fabric donations used to make flags, sails, picnic blankets, and shawls for daughters/Major General during nighttime scenes.
Costumes
Pirate and Daughter Costumes were donated by individual actors. Pirate costumes were simple and required very little editing. We raided the costume closet, students' family closets, and thrift stores to find enough pieces to make convincing pirate garb.
Loose layers worked best. Sashes and belts were made from scrap fabrics and actors provided their own neutral-colored knee-high socks.
The Victoria era women’s costumes were more challenging. For these outfits, we used long-length skirts and dresses from our school’s costume inventory. We then asked each actor to bring in an cotton dress, jumper, or nightgown that could be altered.
A handful of parent-tailors turned each donated item into a sleeveless frock, vest, or apron to be worn over the long layer. For night-time scenes, actors removed the top layer and wore the bottom layer as a nightgown.
The Policemen costumes were even easier still. Since our school colors were black and gold, we dressed our police in marching band uniforms! For added effect, the Major General wore the Drum Major uniform outfitted with students' personal pins, pendants, and first-place ribbons. If you aren’t blessed with these school colors, consider borrowing from a neighboring school district. If that fails, you can purchase or rent a handful of second-hand uniforms here.
Specialty costume items were purchased at thrift stores and garage sales. All in all, we spent a total of $29.66 for all our costumes and sewing notions.
TOTAL BUDGET
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