“Ballad Lines” at Southwark Playhouse – 21/02/26

Saturday was a complicated day. You might wonder why I’ve not blogged in a while but the answer lies in the last post I wrote… that ol’ crutched teenager. So we’ve been having some very boring weekends at home while her ankle heals but my birthday is coming up and so we decided to attempt a day out. It just got a lot more complicated as it went along.

The planning started with booking “Mrs President”. Nathan knew that I was sad to have missed Keala Settle at “Dracapella” so this might make up for it. Also, I’d mentioned that I fancied seeing “Oh Mary” with Mason Alexander Park and aren’t all Mary Todd Lincoln plays created equal?

Well no, but more on that in another post. Because you might notice that this isn’t a review of anything MTL related. It’s a review of “Ballad Lines”. Because we had to go to Colindale first, obviously.

If this is still making no sense, let me step you through my thought process.  “Mrs President” was booked first, for a 7:30pm show. Then we got an invitation to a dear friend’s ordination in far-off Colindale at 11am. It didn’t seem worth going home between the two events so what better way to fill in time than with a matinée? And that’s where “Ballad Lines” comes in. It was affordable and I knew Southwark Playhouse had a lift so it seemed doable with the crutch. All make sense so far?

Yes? Good!

More sense than my chosen route to Colindale which saw us kicked off the Mildmay line (not for bad behaviour) and then stuck in traffic on Edgware Road for hours? Probably.

Still, we made it to the ordination only slightly late and VK managed to hobble the 15 minutes back to Colindale tube afterwards. She had to sit down briefly in Colindale Park but it was just when Reuben decided to scale a giant rock so that all worked out well.

Travelling most of the length of the Northern Line in between ordination and matinée proved to be slightly challenging, time wise but we scooted into our seats at the Playhouse with a full 6 minutes to spare. 

I knew almost nothing about the show before we saw it except that the music was folky and the story followed the lives of three different women, who were all related. And that’s pretty much the basis of it, except it’s four women really – Sarah is our main protagonist, in modern day New York. Betty is her recently-deceased auntie from West Virginia. Jean is a distant ancestor from Ulster and Cait is an even more distant ancestor from Scotland. They each lead very different lives but all know the same songs – the ballads – which are passed down from generation to generation. One of the songs is called “The Four Marys”, which was appropriate given the play we were going to be seeing later on. Maybe we need another two MTL shows to make up the full four?

The cast was nearly all female, with just one male actor. The music director and band were also female so it was very much a woman’s perspective on history. It would make a great outing for International Women’s Day. Maybe less so for Mother’s Day….but I’ll get to that.

The narrative device is a series of tapes that Aunt Betty has left for Sarah talking about the family history of ballads. Some of the early tapes feature a baby Sarah herself while the  last one is recorded just before Betty’s death. If we can get over the unlikelihood of a Millenial instantly knowing how to work a tape deck, then it’s a great framing device.

(Yes, i know that I myself am a millennial but I’m at the very oldest end and Sarah is at the tequila swigging end so….)

I won’t say too much more about the plot, for fear of spoilers, but the tapes pull Sarah into her bloodlines in a way that is both revelationary but also destructive. When Sarah’s partner Alix wryly refers to it as Pandora’s Box, she’s not wrong. 

The music is really central to this story and the characters from the different eras often sing together, resulting in some beautifully rich harmonies. Although there is a small band (piano, guitar and violin), the songs aren’t over-orchestrated and the vocals are given a lot of space to resonate around the space, as they would have done on a Scottish Moor. When the instruments do get the spotlight – as in a lively dance scene – they are superb but it’s the arrangement and the balance of the songs that really  makes this work.

So to the performances. Frances McNamee is Sarah, playing her as traumatised but optimistic, building a new life for herself with Alix. She is a very flawed character and makes some bad decisions but is still likeable and has some great chemistry with Sydney Sainté, who plays Alix. Alix is a very sympathetic character, despite ending up as something of an antagonist to Sarah and Sydney Sainté’s performance captures all of that complexity. Their voices blend well together as they duet and their decluttering sequence is one of the lighter moments of the show, which is played lightly and deftly.

Kirsty Findlay plays Cait, the 17th century Scottish ancestor, who is the wife of enthusiastic minister Jamie (played by Ally Kennard). Cait is another complex character, who loves Jamie but doesn’t want his baby. In fact, she sings a song about a baby being an unwelcome visitor. I’ll try to remember it for next time the kids are annoying me. The theme of motherhood being a burden is woven throughout, as the plight of women in history is contrasted with the choice we have today. It’s not that the show condemns motherhood entirely, but it certainly highlights the privilege of being able to marry who we like, or not marry at all and to have children when and how we want to….or not at all.

As I said at the beginning, possibly not one to go to for Mother’s Day. Although I was there with my own kids and they didn’t take offence at it. In fact, after hearing Alix’s rant about bringing kids into such a messed-up world, I felt the need to apologise to them. Listen, it was a different time in 2008 when we decided to have children. It was a touch less…..fascisty.

So Cait’s story is challenging but still relevant for today. She’s played as initially feisty but eventually defeated, after a struggle to assert her autonomy. Kirsty Findlay has a lovely voice and you can well believe that she is channelling the spirit of a 17th century woman. Gracie Lai plays the other woman from this era – Morna – and while it’s a smaller part, she imbues it with all the drama that the scene requires (again, with the lack of spoilers). Gracie Lai is also a vital supporting player as one of the ensemble voices along with the other main characters.

I mentioned Ally Kennard earlier as Jamie but, as the sole male actor, he is the only one to appear across all three eras. He plays Sarah’s brother Ronan and an Irish doctor as well as Jamie. All three characters have a similar feel – put-upon and accepting of the story moving around them – but they are all played very sympathetically for the most part. Jamie has some moments that are less than ideal but make sense in the context and you can see the passion that’s put behind the delivery of those lines. There was also one moment where he starts singing offstage and VK and I both thought it was Reuben suddenly piping up from the row behind. I don’t know what made us both think that but it must have been a similar baritone quality to the one we hear so often singing Les Mis when he’s meant to be revising. Anyway, it was not Reuben singing, thankfully, but it’s strange that we both had the same thought.

The main Irish characters were played by Yna Tresvalles as pregnant teenager Jean and Siân Louise Dowdalls as her sister Shona. They have a great sisterly energy, teasing each other at first but then clinging together as the situation turns more grave. They sing beautifully together and the affection between them is evident. They are also responsible for one of the most heartbreaking scenes, which was responsible for a general shuffling sound around the room as multiple audience members fished around their bags for tissues.

This happened again during the ending, with an excerpt from the final tape. Rebecca Trehearn as Betty acts as a narrator for the most part but the ending reveals a deeper emotional level to her and we all joined Sarah in weeping as she explained why she behaved as she did. It’s a credit to the writers – Finn Anderson and Tania Azevedo – that all these characters have such depth to them and they are well cast. Rebecca Trehearn is convincingly maternal as Betty but with a hard edge to her and, as you might have guessed by now, she is also a wonderful singer.

I think all four of us enjoyed it, even with the implication that marriage and children ruined your life. The songs were catchy and the music was heavenly. Although some of the plot was harrowing, it was still ultimately a positive story about connecting to your past and going on a journey of self-discovery. Considering I knew nothing about the plot before we saw it, it was a very easy show to get immersed into and to still be thinking about long after we left. Not that we had much time to think before we went to the next show but still, that’s another post….

“Ballad Lines” is on at Southwark Playhouse until 21st March. For tickets and more information click here