LADS presents

The Ballad of Maria Marten

by Beth Flintoff

'It's been a year since I died, and still nobody has found me.'

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

The Red Barn Murder 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. But whilst sending shockwaves throughout the country, Maria's story was lost.

The Ballad of Maria Marten rediscovers her story, bringing it back to vivid, urgent life.

The genius of what Beth Flintoff has done is that it is not about the gruesome murder, but the person. Vital, layered and empowered, a beautiful piece of theatre