Heave-ho and away we go on a fantastic musical journey, where the seven seas simply aren’t big enough for both our pirates and mermaids! Full of catch-of-the-day fresh songs and one thrilling adventure, it’s no surprise that this musical is one of our most popular for 5-11s! We challenge you not to laugh out loud with this witty smiler of a script – and be singing along all the way from the first rehearsal to the final curtain call!
An Annual Performance Licence is required to perform this title. For more information, please click here.
WHY YOU’LL LOVE IT
The iconic characters and fun songs will make a very memorable performance!
About Pirates Versus Mermaids
From the dynamic (and bestselling!) duo of Gaynor Boddy and Rebecca Kincaid comes this wonderfully acclaimed musical – whether you’re looking for a whole-school production or something for a smaller group of older children, it’s one to dive into!
THE SONGS
This fabulous musical includes seven catchy and hooky songs. Of course, you can expect a good hearty dose of pirate songs and sea shanty, as well as the sassy singing mermaids. OH, and we MUST mention the chatty Parrot song – it’s one you're sure to have on repeat! These songs are full of character and humour – perfectly written for the age range.
THE STORY
Me Hearty High School is the most distinguished pirate school on the seven seas and the trainee pirates can’t wait to graduate and become proper pirates. There is only one problem… none of them can swim! If they can't swim they will fail their ‘Arrr’ levels and then what will they do? The answer to their problem lies with the mermaids, but the pirates do not like the mermaids and the mermaids do not like the pirates – will they ever find a way to get along?
THE CHARACTERS
Captain Scarypants and his band of pirates are characters you’ll certainly want to get to know, alongside the sassy, headstrong mermaids and one crackers parrot! It’s certainly set to be a fun casting process!
THE EXTRAS
Pirates Versus Mermaids comes with a character list, a props list and lots of costume ideas.
THE VERDICT
‘It was the best production ever!’
‘The music is fantastic and easy to teach’
‘My Year 2 children loved every second of it, from when we announced it to the very last bow, incredible!’
‘The children loved every single song and learnt the words very quickly’
Other Recommended Titles
An editable script is available for this product when you purchase a package that includes an eSongbook.
Check out how many lines each character has to help you with your casting.
Note: The number of lines is determined by how many times each character's name appears in the script.
Cast notes: There are 26 speaking parts with option to increase up to 58 as required.
For smaller groups, the least number of performers is 24. this would mean having only one narrator, the two announcers doubling up as the crocodile and delivery man and having just 7 pirates and 8 mermaids. The ‘sea’ would need to be created without the children’s help.
Whole school: Have as many pirates and mermaids as you like; split the narration between lots of children; for more speaking parts than 26, split the pirate crew and mermaid crew lines between 21 and 17 children respectively, instead of 6, creating 58 speaking parts.
40 minutes approx.
(Total length of music: 11 minutes approx, excluding curtain-call music)
Song 2: We Don’t Like Mermaids - part singing
Song 3: Avast! Ahoy! - part singing
Song 4: I’m A Parrot - solo for the parrot
Song 5: Out Of Your League - optional harmony in second and third chorus
Song 6: Pool Party - part-singing
Licence Information
Annual Performance Licence Information - What You Need To Know
- A current Annual Performance Licence is required to perform a musical or nativity to an audience (other than to pupils & staff), including an online audience, and irrespective of whether admission charges are made.
- It is more cost effective to purchase an Annual Performance Licence as part of a complete product pack.
- An Annual Performance Licence covers any number of performances of a particular musical or nativity within 12 months of the date of ordering. A separate Annual Performance Licence is required for each product title.
- To renew your Annual Peformance Licence, log into your account if you have one and go to your My Licences section.
Find out more about what your Annual Performance Licence will legally cover you to do.
All of our eSongbooks come with a Single User Licence
- This means you can install our Words on Screen™ software onto ONE computer only, or it can be streamed by a single user.
- If you would like to install this software onto your network server and/or two or more computers, or allow multiple users to stream Words on Screen™ songs, this will be covered by your Annual Performance Licence which includes extended digital rights. For more information, click here.
The following items are available for this product:
Teacher's Book
- Character list
- Script with staging directions throughout
- Suggestions for rehearsing, staging and props
- Music score and song lyric sheets for 7 songs (Piano music score, melody and chords)
- Music score for curtain-call
- Licence and copyright details
Audio CD
- Vocal tracks sung by children
- Professional backing tracks
- Curtain-call tracks
Words on Screen™ eSongbook
- An online Words on Screen™ product to stream or download
- Extractable MP3s, printable lyrics, scores, scripts, & additional resources
- Words on Screen™ versions of songs so that you can display song lyrics on any whiteboard, computer screen, television or interactive touchscreen. The lyrics synchronize with the music as it plays making them easy to teach and easy to learn
- Flexibility to create an expandable library of Words on Screen™ song collections, nativities and musicals in your Out of the Ark online account
- Enhanced operation features including ‘double-click’ to hear and teach a single line
- Words on Screen™ user guide
- Single-User licence (Please note a Performance Licence is still required to perform this musical)
- Licence & copyright details
Annual Performance Licence
An Annual Performance Licence covers any number of performances of a particular musical or nativity within 12 months of the date of ordering. A separate Annual Performance Licence is required for each product title.
Find out more about what your Annual Performance Licence will legally cover you to do.
Rehearsal CDs
- Vocal tracks sung by children
- Professional backing tracks
- Curtain-call tracks
- Available in packs of 5, 10 or 20
Incredible script and music.
Our small rural school of 60 students in Australia just performed Pirates vs Mermaids. The songs are incredibly catchy and easy to learn. It was very easy to spread the speaking parts around (we gave them to our year 2 - 6 students). K/1 happily joined in songs and had some stage time as well. They also did a very simple sword play routine as the pirate teachers were introduced which was cute. Very easy to costume (thank you temu!!). We went to town with the cardboard, paint and sheets and had a fabulous set with ship, mermaid cave, palm tree for one narrator and clam shell for our second narrator. The parents were incredibly impressed. It was still a lot of work, but we pulled it off in 9 weeks. We did singing practise every day, starting with 10 minutes and building up a bit each day. Sometimes separated into pirates/mermaids and other times together. We did an encore of pool party and threw beach balls out into the audience which was fun. It is quite humorous and fun for kids and the audience. Highly recommend.
Best play in years
My year 2 children loved every second of it, from when we announced it to the very last bow, incredible
Good
Excellent!
Fantastic! Highly recommended.
I had my school purchase this package and we performed it yesterday, December 2016! Absolutely amazing. Whole school participated with the speaking parts being allocated to the year 4, 5 and 6's and all classes presenting the songs from pre-primary through to year 6. Huge success, looking for next years already! Highly recommended
Excellent production
I put this on with my 5th Class and it was a huge success. The music is fantastic and easy to teach. My favourite has to be Pool Party !
Excellent for Year 2!
This is an excellent production. We performed it with 90 year 2 children and it was the best production ever! The children loved every single song and learnt the words very quickly. The humour in the script is perfect for years 2-4. Thank you for creating a wonderful play for this age group. If another one is created we will certainly be purchasing for next year!
love it
i love this but i would really like the songs on a cd thanks
This is a cleverly constructed show for Primary aged children.
I purchased this production to use with pupils aged 5yrs -8yrs. I was initially concerned that there might be too many words for the children to learn. However, this has not been the case, as the children were so enthusiastic about the show. They love the humour. It is pitched right at their level. Our Nursery/ Kindergarten are also going to take part. They have been incorporated with the pirates and mermaids and are also going to sing some of the songs. Sometimes when you purchase a script, the songs can be a bit flat: not so with this show. The pupils love the catchy tunes and, because of this, they learnt the song words very quickly. We have put up our own staging in our hall. The children are bringing in their own costumes (which are easy to put together). We don't have any scenery nor do we have many props - they aren't needed. This show can be performed successfully with very little. Most of the boys wanted to be pirates and the girls mermaids but we let them choose and we have a balance in each section. We are a small school where we like everyone to participate in what we do and this show has been a perfect platform.
Add Review