page_title: Pirates in the arts and popular culture
section_title: Stage
hierarchical_section_title: Pirates in the arts and popular culture / Pirates in the arts / Stage
caption_attribution_description: Photo of Boris Karloff as Captain Hook from the Broadway play Peter Pan.
context_page_description: In English-speaking popular culture, the modern pirate stereotype owes its attributes mostly to the imagined tradition of the 18th century Caribbean pirate sailing off the Spanish Main and to such celebrated 20th century depictions as Captain Hook and his crew in the theatrical and film versions of J. M. Barrie's children's book Peter Pan, Robert Newton's portrayal of Long John Silver in the 1950 film adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Treasure Island, and various adaptations of the Middle Eastern pirate, Sinbad the Sailor. In these and countless other books, movies, and legends, pirates are portrayed as "swashbucklers" and "plunderers." They are shown on ships, often wearing eyepatches or peg legs, having a parrot perched on their shoulder, and saying phrases like "Arr, matey" and "Avast, me hearty." Pirates have retained their image through pirate-themed tourist attractions, film, toys, books and plays.
context_section_description: In 1879, the comic opera The Pirates of Penzance was an instant hit in New York, and the original London production in 1880 ran for 363 performances.  The piece, depicting an incompetent band of "tenderhearted" British pirates, is still performed widely today, and obviously corresponds to historical knowledge about the emergence of piracy in the Caribbean.
  While no pirates are ever on stage in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, Hamlet claims that his ship to England was overtaken by pirates.
  In 1904, J.M. Barrie's play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up was first performed. In the book, Peter's enemy in Neverland is the pirate crew led by Captain Hook. Details on Barrie's conception of Captain Hook are lacking, but it seems he was inspired by at least one historical privateer, and possibly by Robert Louis Stevenson's Long John Silver as well.  In film adaptations released in 1924, 1953, and 2003, Hook's dress, as well as the attire of his crew, corresponds to stereotypical notions of pirate appearance.
  Il pirata (The Pirate) is an opera by Vincenzo Bellini, 1827
  The Pirates of Penzance, a comic operetta by Gilbert and Sullivan contains a Pirate King and a crew of orphan pirates.
  Captain Sabertooth is a play first performed in the zoo\amusement park at Norway by Terje Formoe.
  The Buccaneers of America by John Esquemeling is the supposedly real stories of some Caribbean pirates.
  The Lady Pirates of Captain Bree also called Captain Bree and her Lady Pirates by Martin A. Follose and Bill Francoeur, a musical spoof
  Störtebeker Festival on Rügen island in Germany, established in 1959/1993, is one of the best-established open-air theatres in Europe, following the stories and legends of Klaus Störtebeker and his Victual Brothers and Likedeelers of the 14th century.
caption: Boris Karloff as Captain Hook in a 1951 Broadway production of Peter Pan
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