We live in an age of revisionist history. Narratives are up for grabs. Identities are transpositionally fluid. Interpolation can lead to the revelation or suppression of deeper truths. Some artistic efforts along these lines curry attention without leading to enlightenment, such as the grating TV series Bridgerton and The Buccaneers. Some examples, like Peter Milligan and Adam Pollina’s comic book Pyrate Queen (2021), flip the gender switch and enthrall through situational novelty and striking visuals. But leave it to fine artists to plumb historical depths to find charged readings. Hilary Harkness showed us that with her engaging and deliciously deceptive reworking of Winslow Homer and the Civil War in her “Prisoners from the Front” series of paintings at P·P·O·W last fall. And now we have Stan Douglas’s sharp and controlled take on the early-eighteenth century British writer John Gay’s little-known sequel to his Beggar’s Opera (1728): a ballad opera titled Polly published in 1729 and never produced in his lifetime. The crown banned it due to lingering resentment over the satirical take on the government in The Beggar’s Opera and Polly’s exposure of crises in colonialism. The show’s title, The Enemy of All Mankind, refers to maritime law of the period that encouraged attacks on pirates—reflecting colonial nations threatened by the outlaws’ freedom and democratic codes.