As the sun set, and a near full moon rose over St. Catherine's beach on Monday evening, the drama of Bermuda's birth unfolded on the battlements of the fort located yards from where the shipwrecked survivors came ashore in July 1609.

The Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society's production, 'Wrecked on the Rock', written and directed by Barbara Jones, and staged at historic Fort St. Catherine, follows the account of the survivors' stay in Bermuda written by William Strachey in a letter to Lucy Harrington, Duchess of Bedford, one of the original investors in the Virginia enterprise.

Bedford and Strachey take it in turns to narrate the events of that fateful ten months from July 1609 to May 1610, interjecting a number of irreverent and humorous asides as they do so. With their government's treasuries and bellicose spirits exhausted, the English and Spanish made peace, which was all very well, but without the possibility of Spanish gold to capture, the English found funding new enterprises, as the duchess noted, had to be done the hard way.

The context thus established, the company then dramatise the horror of the hurricane, the illness, desperation and despair and the joy at discovering land, observing the number of coincidences that brought them to Bermuda's shores "on such a slender thread does history hang".

While the English shareholders of the Virginia Company worry about the return on their investment, the English shipwreck survivors worry about obtaining fresh water and sourcing food supplies, with one wag noting that sailors will eat anything edible and some things that aren't. Growing crops in a strange, and often hostile, environment was no easy task, and the monotony of the food available was a hardship no bread, no eggs, no cheese or butter, little in the way of fresh fruit and vegetables beyond palmetto hearts and prickly pear.

The oft-recounted conflicts between sailors and settlers, the personal antagonisms, no less than three separate mutinies are all there, but dramatised, they become more immediate. Sir Thomas Gates' vulnerability is made clearer the struggle to maintain order, to keep the settlers and sailors at their task of shipbuilding, and the reliance on the sailors to get them off the island once the ships were built.

Of course, life wasn't all misery. There were two baptisms and one wedding to celebrate and ample time to experiment with alcoholic concoctions.

The postscript on some of the lives of the individuals, John Rolfe and Christopher Newport for example, round out the action on an interesting and somewhat surprising note they all died before they were 60.

As Barbara Jones notes in the programme, "If I had been given this plot for a drama, I would have rejected it as being utterly improbable, but according to William Strachey (the chief amongst my research resources), this all actually happened on this very island, nigh 400 years ago. I hope you find the intrepid company aboard the 'Sea Venture' as interesting and as intriguing as I did!"

While the script follows fairly closely Strachey's familiar account, also included are some little known facts of interest, such as Sir Christopher Newport's earlier career as a privateer. Licence has been taken to develop the idiosyncrasies of personalities Robert Waters' drunkenness, Mistress Hopkins shrewishness, Sir George's forbearance and the expanded commentary allows for some slightly satirical parallels to be drawn with current issues: balance of power, mutiny and sedition, loyalty and duty.

The historic setting is suitable for action with minimum set and lighting, and the acoustics surprisingly good. While not historically accurate in all points, the costuming gives a good flavour of the 17th century, and helps differentiate the sailors from the settlers, and Captain Yeardley's soldiers from the rest. The acting of the company is sound, with Sean Dill (Sir George Somers), Nicola Wilkinson (Robert Waters), Megan Brock (Mary Hopkins) and Marvin Ford (Reverend Bucke) providing particularly strong performances.

Sponsored by the Bermuda 2009 Charitable Trust, admission is free, and the lively production is an ideal way to introduce young people to the story of Bermuda's birth, while adults will find the humorous asides entertaining. The play runs nightly until July 11, with tickets available at the Bermuda Bookstore in Hamilton, the Bermuda National Trust Museum at the Globe Hotel, St. George's, and at the gate. There is no assigned seating and gates open at 6.30 p.m.. A seat cushion and hat (and possibly umbrella) are advised.