Information for The Pirates of Penzance at Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne (Opera or Operetta). 'The Pirates of Penzance (or the Slave of Duty)' is probably the most humorous of the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, with tuneful melodies and well known songs, Poor Wandering One, I Am The Very Model of a Modern Major General, The Sergeant of Police and Policeman's Chorus. This production gives a fresh, layered interpretation to one of Britain's most beloved operas as The Pirates of Penzance emerges into a 1919 world where a generation of men have been forever altered, and women move towards emancipation. It is a time when the past refuses to be forgotten, and the future both presents challenges and holds great promise; a time of courage and cowardice, sorrow and laughter, honour and deception; a time of poetry. Congress Theatre