Ballad Lines has been a long time in the making – this week marks its London premiere, although the past decade has involved a whole series of workshops, concerts and public readings. Now it’s finally arrived, has it been worth the wait?
We’re pleased to report that it’s really very good indeed. It all starts quite conventionally: we’re introduced to Sarah (Frances McNamee) who has just moved in with her partner Alix (Sydney Sainté) into an apartment in New York – well, we say it’s a conventional start; it wasn’t so long ago that a story beginning this way would have been an unusual sight on the stage. We’re always happy to discover new queer love stories.
Their relationship takes a turn when Sarah discovers a box of old tape recordings from her great aunt Betty (Rebecca Trehearn); through these old cassettes, Sarah rediscovers her roots and starts to think more about her family lineage.
Her ancestry is told through a series of folk ballads that have been passed down from generation to generation, in a story that travels from Scotland, to Ireland and then over to the USA. Ultimately it’s a tale about choice: the choices that the women in her family have had to take, and the choices that were and weren’t available to them in years gone by; and the choices that Sarah is able to make in the present day – as well as the impacts those choices will have on those around her.
We do have a bit of an issue with the venue, and we’ve made similar observations when we’ve seen musicals previously at the Southwark Playhouse Elephant – the acoustics just aren’t that great, which is disappointing for such a new theatre. At times the band is a little overpowering; other times the clarity of the vocals doesn’t quite ring through, so we lost a few lyrics here and there. We still got the gist of each song, but it’s a shame, as the songwriting here is genuinely excellent and – despite the best efforts of the singers and musicians – this venue doesn’t really do them justice.
That being said, we still enjoyed our evening with Ballad Lines – it tells an engaging story and it really has some great tunes. Well worth checking out.
GAY TIMES gives Ballad Lines – 4/5
More information can be found here.
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