The Ballad of Maria Marten

Performed from Thu 17 — Sat 19 Mar

THE BALLAD OF MARIA MARTEN
By Beth Flintoff
Age guidance 12+

A thrilling retelling of Suffolk’s real-life murder mystery…

Summer 1827. In a red barn Maria Marten awaits her lover. A year later her body is found in a grain sack under the floor of the barn, barely identifiable, and so the manhunt begins.

Maria’s story sent shock waves throughout the country. The ‘Red Barn Murder’ - as it became known - was national news. A gruesome tale that had all the hallmarks of a classic crime drama – a missing body, a country location, a disreputable squire and a village stuck in its age-old traditions – it has inspired writers and filmmakers down the ages.

But, in all the hysteria, Maria’s own story got lost. Until now. Hal Chambers and Beth Flintoff’s spine-tingling retelling reclaims Maria Marten’s story and brings it back to vivid, urgent life.