ALL ABOARD THE S.S. SEX FARCE

These gender-liberated pirates
need to boink more and bicker less

Rachel Sleek Bañuelos, Stef Brundage and Sierra Bryn in Babes With Blades’ yo ho. at The Edge Off-Broadway Theater

On the deck of the pirate ship Revenge, a buxom young lass leads a blindfolded young man to a chair. Asking him to trust her, she ties him up and then promptly walks off with a bag of money handed to her by soon-to-be second mate Andy (Rachel Sleek Bañuelos). The young man sold into slavery to the pirate Calico Jack (Stef Brundage) is Mark Read (Sierra Bryn). His treacherous paramour is a local barkeep called Vanessa (Brittani Yawn), and her betrayal sets up the silliest—and horniest—maritime escapades you’re ever likely to see.

Sierra Bryn, Brittani Yawn, Rachel Sleek Bañuelos and William Delforge

Stage combat is a hallmark of all Babes With Blades productions, and true to form, the opening show of their new season, yo ho., now playing at The Edge Off-Broadway Theater, features plenty of swordplay, wonderfully and wittily choreographed by Carly “CB” Cason. The performances are excellent throughout. What the production lacks, however, is a coherent narrative—or, to be blunt, a clear point; pun(s) intended.

Written by SMJ, directed by JD Caudill, and featuring a modest set that features a portion of a ship’s deck by Amy C. Gilman, yo ho.—that punctuation remains an itch in my brain—opens with a modest set depicting part of a ship’s deck. A pair of low walls function as both rails and partitions while also setting up the evening’s best moment: a sight gag involving a character in silhouette.

Sierra Bryn

There’s no point in being coy about the genders of the two lead characters since for those who read the playbill—I do not—the subtitle of the play gives the game away; as can be surmised by a pirate play about mary read and anne bonny. (Seriously, what did capital letters ever do to hurt this playwright?) Mary and Anne are both disguised as men, for reasons that are far too complicated to unpack here. Oddly enough, Mark doesn’t seem particularly upset about being sold into slavery, and upon being released from his bindings, his first move is to “present” himself to a leering Andy, who is also the sexual partner of Calico Jack, who in addition to going through a gender crisis, also dallies with the ship’s mate Chad (William Delforge), whenever Andy—whose true identity Jack already knows—is unavailable.

Convoluted enough? Well brace yourself, because there’s more.

Brittani Yawn, Stef Brundage and William Delforge

Back on the mainland, bartender Vanessa, still in love with Mary despite having sold her to the pirates, is double-dealing with James (also Delforge), Mary’s ex-husband, who reports to an oppressive Governor (Yawn, again). Vanessa is also sleeping with a fire-and-brimstone preacher (Delforge yet again), who whips the townsfolk into a frenzy over the pirates’ cavalier dismissal for conventional gender and sexual norms. I can’t quite remember why she’s boinking him, but I’m sure it’s explained somewhere along the way.

I’m exhausted just typing that out.

And none of it really matters.

Rachel Sleek Bañuelos and Sierra Bryn

yo ho. is at its best when it leans into sexy, outrageous comedy. The cast is clearly having a terrific time, and the many sex scenes are witty, playful, and cleverly staged. The problem is that the show never quite decides whether it wants to be a frothy farce, a gender-bending satire, or a relationship drama. Bryn and Bañuelos prove remarkably adept at shifting between comedy and drama in the second act, but the heavier scenes repeatedly sap the comic momentum. They feel as though they’ve been shoehorned in from another, much less interesting play. There’s also an unnecessary coda that attempts to reframe everything that came before it, despite following a near-perfect scene that would have been an ideal capper to the show.

Brittani Yawn and William Delforge

Brundage, Bryn, and Bañuelos—that sounds like a law firm in a Laurence Sterne novel—may be the nominal leads but the real star turns come from Delforge and Yawn, who steal scene after scene, frequently with minimal dialog. Delforge is a marvelously physical comedian and Yawn, in addition to her crackerjack timing, gets a ridiculous amount of comic mileage from her unintelligible muttering. Both are equally hilarious across multiple roles, a badge of honor if there ever was one. That’s not to say that the rest of the cast is slack—far from it—but they’re burdened with the “heavier” portions of the play and they don’t get to maintain the madcap energy that powers Delforge and Yawn.

Rachel Sleek Bañuelos and Sierra Bryn

yo ho. can be very funny but there isn’t much material for a full length show; even at 95 minutes, it feels padded. You’re unlikely to be bored—aside from a handful of overly earnest scenes and that deadly dull coda—but it does seem like a missed opportunity. As it stands, it’s a charmingly diverting evening at the theater. But with some work, this could be a frothy comic gem.

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photos by Tom McGrath / TCMcG Photography

yo ho.
Babes With Blades Theatre Company
The Edge Off-Broadway Theater, 1133 W. Catalpa Ave. in Chicago
95 minutes with intermission
Thu–Sat 8; Sun 3
ends on August 29, 2026
open-caption, sensory-friendly, and fully masked performances available
streaming Aug. 27–29 at 7 CST
for tickets ($28–$35), visit Babes With Blades

for more shows, visit Theater in Chicago

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