Review: BALLAD LINES at Southwark Playhouse (Elephant)

Stuart King 30 January, 2026, 10:52

With book, music and lyrics from the writing team of Finn Anderson and Tania Azevedo, the self-proclaimed folk musical BALLAD LINES opened this week at Southwark Playhouse Elephant. Boasting 22 songs heavily influenced by the fiddle tunes of the Appalachian Mountains and incorporating instruments which have African and Gaelic roots, the show draws on a loosely woven sisterly experience down the ages. So, does it twang in all the right places?

ballad lines musical production images Yna Tresvalles, Sydney Sainté and Kirsty Findlay in Ballad Lines. Photo by Pamela Raith.

Starting with Cait (Kirsty Findlay) the pregnant wife of a Scottish minister (Ally Kennard — who plays all male supporting parts), we find her struggling to feel the hormonal pangs of motherliness. Through her husband’s intervention, she is denied the only abortion assistance available to her from Morna (Gracie Lai) and is subsequently forced to conceive in a locked bedroom. This offers the first tangible hint that the musical will cover emotive topics viewed largely from a woman’s perspective, including right to choose and having agency over her own body. The couple later move to the north of Ireland and five generations later, bonded sisters Jean and Shona (Yna Tresvalles and Siân Louise Dowdalls respectively) argue as sisters do, but support each other through an unmarried pregnancy and a decision to depart for a better life in the new world.

Coming up to date, we join Sarah (Frances McNamee) as she warily begins working through the box of tape recordings prepared by her recently deceased aunt Betty (Rebecca Trehearn) who was unable to come to terms with her young charge’s natural predilection for other women. Whilst they may have fallen out years before on her brother’s wedding day, the box of songs and reminiscences forms the unexpected basis for understanding and forgiveness between the two women. Inadvertently, it also awakens a desire in Sarah to raise a child, something which her partner Alix (Sydney Sainté) determines that she is unable to accommodate in their relationship. Placing career and their new home front and centre has been Alix’s priority, so as the gentle but determined nudging towards parenthood increases, a rupture occurs between the two women.

ballad lines southwark playhouse review Photo by Pamela Raith.

On a relatively simple slatted wooden boardwalk set by TK Hay, benefitting from a backdrop of draped tassels which lend a mountainous feel depending on Simon Wilkinson’s lighting states, the cast enter and exit on four sides, which includes a significant and important doorway.

The 4-piece all female band under keyboardist Shonagh Murray’s guidance, includes Sally Simpson on fiddle, Maddy Salter on guitar and off-stage Isis Dunthorne on drums. They deliver the mix of traditional Gaelic, bluegrass, country, jazz and blues songs sung by the universally strong cast members who strive for a delivery which stylistically is a pleasing blend of Becky Buller, Carole King, k d lang, Rhonda Vincent and Dale Ann Bradley.

It’s not quite up there with Once or Benjamin Button, but Ballad Lines has a great deal going for it. Running 2hours and 20 minutes including interval, the show continues at Southwark Playhouse Elephant until 21st March.