5 h 45 minAudiobook13 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 5 h 45 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Before a strolling actor can find a meal, he must find an audience.
In A Pirate of Parts, Richard Neville takes you into the world of the American traveling stage. Small companies move from town to town, ready to perform in a hall or a barn. Money is scarce, costumes travel in trunks, and making a living means living by your wits.
The title suggests a likable rascal who helps himself to roles, tricks and credit that may belong to someone else. Around him is a theatrical crowd of proud leading men, tired managers and rival players. Mishaps follow mishaps, while local audiences prove hard to please.
What you’ll discover
- Life on the road Follow strolling players whose next meal depends on finding a crowd willing to watch.
- The art of getting away Meet the idea of a theatrical pirate, borrowing parts and claiming more than his share.
- Egos behind the curtain Discover a stage world crowded with self-important leading men, weary managers and competing players.
- A stage wherever possible Step into halls and barns where traveling companies find space to put on plays.
- Mishaps with comic spirit Enjoy a lively, loose tale that turns the scramble of theatrical life into comedy.
Who will love it
Readers who love backstage comedy, tall tales, and quick-witted rogues will feel at home here. It suits anyone curious about old American theater and anyone who likes a hero who bluffs and keeps a kind heart.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Handy starts with borrowed resources
- Fog brings a rival's audience
- Novelty wins over fashionable society
- An opponent becomes a friendly connection
- A false illness meets real generosity
- A town builds toward a performance
- Nerve needs preparation to work
- Families give the comedy its stakes
- Kindness gives Handy's nerve its value
Who’s who
- HandyA red-haired strolling actor and manager who bluffs his way through debts and dangers while looking after the families who depend on him.
- SmithHandy's loyal property man and prompter, an inventive liar who will play any small part and carry out any scheme.
- The Little UnThe smallest player in the company, good at comic turns but seasick on the water and wary of any rope trick.
- Philander FoggA tall, thin, deaf, cheerful dreamer who loves stage gossip, plans benefits without money, and cannot see a joke.
- Ed McGowanThe big, warm saloon keeper of Gotown who promises a new hall in days and wants to celebrate the town's anniversary in style.
- Daisey De VereThe only woman left in Handy's company, a seasoned and cheerful performer who sings and dances and has trunks in half the country.
- Myles O'HaraA proud Gotown builder's man and Irish dancer who agrees to appear on stage only if the blind piper Dinny Dempsey plays for him.
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A Pirate of Parts
A red-haired actor sails Long Island Sound with seven players, a tent and eleven dollars to put on shows.
Medium level2–5 hours to readEnglish
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In short
What do you do when the summer is over before it starts, the theaters are shut, and your pocket holds eleven dollars? If you are Handy, you borrow a tent, borrow a boat, and hire seven actors to sail the Long Island Sound with you.
A Pirate of Parts at a glance
- Reading time
- About 3 h 10 min2 h 30 min fast, 3 h 45 min slow
- Length
- 45,100 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A strolling actor starts a show on credit
Handy is an actor by trade and a jack of all trades by need. He has been a sailor, bartender, soldier, and clown, and he claims he can play anything from Macbeth to an elephant's hind leg.
The summer is a bad one for actors. Most men would stop for lack of money. Handy counts his assets instead: a friend's canvas tent, another friend's sailing vessel called the Gem of the Ocean, twenty dollars of credit with a printer, and eleven dollars in his pocket. He recruits seven old stock company players on the Rialto.
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Cite this edition
Neville, Richard. A Pirate of Parts. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-pirate-of-parts.
Neville, R. (2026). A pirate of parts. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-pirate-of-parts
Neville, Richard. A Pirate of Parts. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-pirate-of-parts.
@book{neville2026pirate,
author = {Neville, Richard},
title = {A Pirate of Parts},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-pirate-of-parts}
}
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What is A Pirate of Parts about?
It follows Handy, a red-haired strolling actor, and his friends Smith and Fogg as they stage shows on credit, from tent performances along Long Island Sound to a benefit in New York and an opening night in an oil town.
Who is Handy in A Pirate of Parts?
Handy is an actor, manager, and jack of all trades who leads the company. He is cheerful, resourceful, and always short of cash, and he can bluff a sheriff, a landlord, or a crowd with equal ease.
Is A Pirate of Parts a true story?
It is a comic novel, not a record of real events. It draws on the real world of touring American theater, and its characters mention actual stage figures, plays, and songs of the ragtime years.
The author
Richard Neville
1428–1471 · Writer
Richard Neville (1428–1471) was an English nobleman who lived in England during the Wars of the Roses. He became Earl of Warwick through his wife and inherited the earldom of Salisbury. He supported Edward IV, then helped restore Henry VI. He died fighting Edward’s forces at the Battle of Barnet.
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