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This project successfully funded on 10th May 2026, you can still support them with a donation.
Raising the Wreck- Revisited!
Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
£95
raised so far
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Aim
We are touring Raising the Wreck Revisited focussing on maritime ecology and an exploration of the gendered body and women pirates.
https://www.sea-changetheatre.com/raising-the-wreck
We are an international theatre company based in the UK, founded by “queer theatre legend” Sue Frumin (as hailed by Out Savvy) to challenge the imbalance of roles in theatre and on screen.
Our past productions include an all-female promenade production of The Tempest staged at Skala Eressos, Lesvos, in Greece, 
and the acclaimed Fine and Dandy!
Our core team now includes actor and creative Hayley Cartwright ( Hayley Cartwright), whose extensive experience across the arts strengthens our bold, collaborative practice, Sue Frumin- writer and Artistic Director, Hannah Tyrell-Pinder (of Box of Tricks Theatre)- Director, Maisy Hepburn- Producer, Lara Booth- designer, and Holly Marland- musician.
We are proudly inclusive, striving for equality across background, sexuality, gender, class, ability and race.
In 1985, the ground-breaking company, Gay Sweatshop, commissioned Sue to write Raising the Wreck. Written for and performed by an all-female, multi-racial cast, the production brought lesbian lives centre stage. The original cast included Booker Prize–winner Bernardine Evaristo, who remembers it as “a ground-breaking drama bringing lesbian lives to the fore.”
At just 16, future TS Eliot Prize–winner Joelle Taylor saw the play and describes it as “a pioneering piece of unapologetically women’s theatre… loud, vibrant, hilarious and somehow holy. And I credit Sue with helping me to become the writer I am today!”
In November this year (2026) , we will tour the North West with Raising the Wreck – Revisited, with a cast of 5 female professional actors, and a full creative team, newly updated for today’s audiences. Moving, funny and fiercely insightful, the play draws on the true stories of legendary women pirates including: Grace O'Malley, Mary Read and Ching Pang Twu.
Our venues are:
*The Empty Space, Media City, Salford
* Unity Theatre, Liverpool
* Theatre Porto, Ellesmere Port
We are thrilled to have received an Arts Council grant — hooray! — but bringing this ambitious production to life requires further support. Your donations will help us to:
Pay for hire of the theatres
Hire rehearsal space
Build the set
Deliver community workshops on history, drama, playwriting and sea shanty songs to all ages, genders, abilities, and backgrounds
An exhibition on gendered bodies.
Transport and storage of set, costumes and props.
With your support, we can continue making bold, inclusive, history-shaping theatre.
Thank you so much, Sue, Hayley and the rest of the creative team!
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made