Celebrating International Women’s Day with The Ballad of Maria Marten

The company asked two singer songwriters and two of the cast to use the writing of survivors of domestic abuse to inspire new ballads. That writing came out of workshops run by Beth Flintoff in 2018 and 2022. It was writing that helped shape the performance, and continues to inspire the company to this day.

The four tracks are:

• Dark is the Path by Lisa Knapp quotes a number of different verses from the women’s writing, and all the other lyrics are a mix of their stories. Lisa released her own version of The Murder of Maria Marten in 2018
• Survivor uses one of the poems in The Next Chapter booklet by Beth Nash. Beth plays Theresa Matthews in Ballad of Maria Marten, visit her website for more info here
• Lighthouse Women uses words from across the project and is set to music by Bristol based performer, composer and musician Victoria Bourne. Visit her website to find out more here
• He was a Kind and Good Natured Young Man uses a poem from the work of the original Lighthouse women, and is set to music by actor Susie Barrett, who actually says those lines in the play!

We’ll be adding a further two tracks to the playlist when the company arrive in Ipswich, Suffolk – the ‘home’ of both Eastern Angles and the Maria Marten story.

You can listen to all 4 on the songs on the Maria Marten website here, and read the poetry and prose of the survivors here.

And of course don’t forget to book for the show when it comes to Keswick from Tue 29 March – Sat 2 April here!