Thursday, March 28

Tag: Bethan Nash

The Ballad of Maria Marten – Wilton’s Music Hall
London

The Ballad of Maria Marten – Wilton’s Music Hall

Set in the 1820’s, writer Beth Flintoff and Artistic Director Ivan Cutting were keen to tell this age-old story of the death of Maria Marten from the viewpoint of the victim.  The story has been told in many ways previously, but tended to look at the murderer, William Corder, rather than taking an interest in Maria Marten’s life.  Maria (Elizabeth Crarer), lived in a small rural village called Polstead where she had grown up in poverty losing her mother at an early age.  This led to her looking after the house at age 10, until her father met and married Ann (Sarah Goddard) who was kindly and took over many of these tasks, so that Maria could finally have a childhood.  She played with her friends who formed a club called the ‘hazard club’, in which they dared each ot...
The Ballad of Maria Marten – The Lowry
North West

The Ballad of Maria Marten – The Lowry

Theatre is at its best when it can retell a story in a new dynamic, a new setting or with a new spin. All of the above are true of Beth Flintoff’s adaptation; The Ballad of Maria Marten which tells the true story of a harrowing true crime which took place in 1827. The Red Barn Murder which occurred in Suffolk saw Maria Marten shot and then buried for over a year before her body was discovered, but this play doesn’t focus on just her death but more a celebration of her life and it’s incredibly captivating as a result. Directed by Hal Chambers, this play doesn’t feel like a murder mystery nor does it feel like a dark crime drama, it’s inviting and makes a statement that Maria Marten’s murder is not her defining life moment; she had a life - she loved, she laughed, and it’s a clever re...