Murder Ballads is being performed at Liverpool’s Royal Court Studio, which is situated in the basement there. Located in the heart of the city, the building itself is full of Art Deco and character. The studio is a lovely space and very imitate for the audience to see the show more closely. The studio recently opened for productions that have been previously performed elsewhere. A great opportunity for future directors, writers and actors to enhance their skills, develop their shows and reach a wider audience.
Director Ellie Hurt has done an excellent job bringing Murder Ballads to life. Her enthusiasm, hard-work and dedication were clearly demonstrated in the show. Murder Ballads was written by award-winning academic, musician and playwright, Gerry Smyth, who has done incredibly well adapting ten songs from Nick Cave’s cult album into a compelling narrative. Additionally, he has incorporated the mixture of comedy and horror characteristics of Nick Cave’s work brilliantly, by featuring a combination of live and recorded music. Murder Ballads is a theatrical roller-coaster that had the audience singing along to one of the songs one minute, then suddenly crouching in fear the next.
Murder Ballards was set in O’Malley’s Bar, Millaven, Texas, USA, in 1882. There was a very strong ensemble of three, Laura Connolly, Thomas Galashan and Tom Oliver. Oliver played the role of Vigil, the narrator of the show. He did a great job telling the story and introducing the characters gradually at a good, steady pace. He provided a lot of banter and kept the audience entertained between the scenes and costume changes.
Connolly and Galashan both are extremely versatile playing multiple characters throughout the production. They both displayed a great deal of chemistry and the dynamics between all the various characters they played on stage. Additionally, they both created so much friction with their actions, which inevitably built up to a good deal of tension. There was so much energy from start to finish. Gerry Smyth was also on stage performing the music to their songs and played a few characters during the show too.
The compelling narrative centred around two warring families, The Days and their three daughters, Sarah, Eliza, Jane and The Lees, with their edible son, Henry. The story told the murderous misfortunes overtaking both families by Stagger Lee (Thomas Galashan), who was looking for vengeance.
The set design of Murder Ballads by Rachel Jones was minimal, but very practical, given the size of the stage. The Texan accents of the actors were good but got stronger as the play progressed. A great deal of attention was noted for the costumes of the time period the play was set in. Laura had a few costume changes during the show, which were done effortlessly. Props again, minimal, but when required, they were there.
The lighting (Rebecca Sharnan) was good, the contrasts of darkness in Murder Ballads was echoed by the performances of Thomas and Laura, plus the dark tales of murders that subsequently followed. Well done to Daniel Meigh, who did the fight choreography for the show which was done incredibly well, given the size of the stage and close proximity of the audience too.
There were ten song choices, all from the cult album by Nick Cave. The cast sung and performed them excellently. Their vocals were good and added so much depth and tension to the story. I particularly liked Stagger Lee, as it was really funny and had the audience in hysterics with some of the lines in the song. Another good song was Death Is Not The End. However, all the songs added something and told the story so well.
I would highly recommend you go and see Murder Ballads, as I am sure you will enjoy the show as much as I did. The show was extremely enjoyable and highly entertaining, full of action and songs throughout the show.
Reviewer - Mark Cooper
on - 16/5/19
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