By DANIEL HIEBERT

You/Local Editor

About halfway into Oakland University’s production of “Bloody Bess,” a cannon was wheeled out onstage and aimed directly at the front row. The audience knew it was just a stage prop, and that there was nothing to be afraid of, but some of them couldn’t help lean to one side just in case.

“Bloody Bess” opened last Thursday, Feb. 5, performed by a cast almost entirely composed of OU theatre and musical theatre majors. It’s a tale of revenge and intrigue on the high seas featuring the crew of the pirate ship “God’s Love.”

The play centers on Elizabeth Presberty, daughter of the wealthy governor of a Caribbean island nation.  She is promptly abducted by pirates and held for ransom. Through a series of violent events, Elizabeth finds herself as acting captain of the pirate ship.

Directed by John Manfredi, managing director of Meadow Brook Theatre — whose credits as a fight choreographer include “The Pirates of Penzance,” “Macbeth” and “Real Stories of the Highway Patrol” — the production is a unique re-imagination of the original script.  The play was adapted as if it was being shot as a 1930s motion picture.

In the opening minutes of the play, a character had his tongue cut out of his mouth and tossed limply onstage, while the pirates mocked his emotional weakness. Offstage, a buzzer went off, the lights came up and the actors went about calling for coffee, make-up, or talking excitedly about the last scene.

Parsons picked up the tongue like an uncooked piece of bacon and looked around for someone to give it to.

“Originally, Bloody Bess, was a straight-up drama,” said Rozanski. “But

in our production we were able to play with it and make it lighter and

funnier.”

Luchin acted alongside Chris Rozanski as the play’s duo of antagonists, Johnathan Oxenham and Commodore Reynard Eaton. 

Both Rozanski and Luchin have other projects on the way. Rozanski will perform a senior showcase in New York and Chicago, and hopes to land an acting job or an agent.  

Luchin will play the lead in an one-page play in Manhattan.

Bloody Bess runs in Varner Studio Theatre in Varner Hall through Feb. 15.  Showtimes are Feb. 12-14 at 8 p.m., Feb. 13 at 10 p.m. and Feb. 15 at 2 p.m.