Tale of heroism on the high seas (From Daily Echo)

Tale of heroism on the high seas

2:10pm Wednesday 7th July 2010 in

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BILLY Bow is being staged as a workshop performance in The Nuffield Theatre Studio this week.

This new musical, by Dr Andrew Fisher from the University of Southampton and naval historian Dr Ian Friel, will see four professional actors working with 15 students from the University of Southampton and Southampton Solent University.

Disguising herself as a man called Billy Bow, Mina enlists in the Royal Navy during the closing years of the Napoleonic War in order to escape her murderous husband Robert.

The daughter of a freed slave and a former sailor, Billy has naive expectations of finding freedom, adventure and riches in the Navy – ideas soon dashed in the harsh and dangerous world of HMS Cormorant.

Billy Bow’s extraordinary story is a universal one – of heroism, survival, and, against all the odds, the enduring strength of women.

This new musical is an exciting collaboration for the Creative Campus Initiative between The Nuffield Theatre, The University of Southampton and Solent University.

Runs until Thursday. Tickets: 023 8067 1771.