Sink the Warrior

Sink the Warrior is based on the true story of the sinking of the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior by French secret agents on 10th of July 1985 while it was tied up at Auckland Harbour in New Zealand's largest city. The show includes many of the key characters, such as the French agents Alain Mafart and Dominique Prieur, the double agent Frederick Bonilieu and the Portugese photographer Fernando Periera who was killed when two limpet mines attached to the hull of the ship exploded. Sink the Warrior has a strong peace theme with plenty of humour and satire, the French military being obvious targets. However, the show is not anti-French but highlighted the foolishness of a military operation whose target was an unprotected ship tied up in the peaceful harbour of a friendly country. Sink the Warrior was featured on three columns of the front page of the large French daily Le Monde after its first major staging in an Auckland theatre in March 1996.

Sink the Warrior is suitable only for high schools or theatre companies. Although based on an incident in the South Pacific, its story of international espionage, betrayal, pathos and humour is universal.