THE STORY: In Kipling’s nineteenth-century story, Harvey Cheyne, an obnoxious rich boy, falls from the deck of a luxury liner and is rescued by a fishing boat, the “We’re Here,” owned by a black captain, Disko Troop. Aboard the “We’re Here,” Harvey learns about hard work, about courage, and about life. In Horovitz’s twentieth-century counterpart (the two stories alternate in parallel development), Manny Shimma, a sixteen-year-old homeless wiseguy, in trouble with the law, finds himself hiding out on a tiny fishing boat, the “Sylvie the 2nd,” captained by Ben Cheyne, Harvey Cheyne’s great-great-great grandson, with a single crewman, Roland Troop, Disko Troop’s great-great-great grandson. Aboard the “Sylvie the 2nd,” Manny, too, learns about hard work, courage, and life. Modern and traditional sea-chanteys are sung by cast and chorus throughout the play. Live musicians can be used, on-stage and off. CAPTAINS AND COURAGE is a play of high adventure, full-blown emotion, and great dignity, a perfect choice for theater groups which use larger casts.
Designed for a multi-racial cast of 14 or more actors playing multiple roles, CAPTAINS COURAGE intermingles Kipling’s 19th century tale of Gloucester fishermen with playwright Israel Horovitz’s own tale of the modern-day descendants of Kipling’s characters. Horovitz creates a brilliantly theatrical, imaginative, heart-wrenching adventure of the sea, of family, of love, of captains, and of courage. To be played on a barren stage, with simple platforms, uncomplicated costumes, and inexpensive stage-effects.
