‘Harr! I am Cy, the greatest terror of the Seven World Billionaires, King* of all pirates, the personification of the skull and crossbones. Once you see the gold of my teeth, it's already too late. I am the reincarnation of Anne Bonny, the hottest drag king at sea, I am Pussyking* of the Pirates![1]’

Jolly, jolly Roger, flag hoisted, sabre drawn, yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum. Pirates have been found in books, films and carnival costumes for generations. Most of it is pure fiction. Between Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island and Errol Flynn's white swashbuckler, pirate stories remain one thing above all else: mythological exaggeration. What remains when we throw these images overboard? Resistance, rebellion, queerness and utopia?

In Pussyking* and the Pirates, Cy Linke embarks on a journey through the history of stories, towards fame and ruin, searching between drag performance, pirate film and history lecture for a stateless trans* society of unequals among unequals, where a Pussyking* no longer needs a crown.

[1] This name is stolen. But screw it, now it's mine!

Credits:

Pussyking*: Cy Linke
Artistic collaboration and co-research: Dennis Dita Kopp
Costume and stage: Barbara Lenartz
Dramaturgy: Laura Guhl

22.05.2026

Theater Magdeburg

Magdeburg