The Bloody Ballad

Billed as ‘Grimm’s fairytales meets Quentin Tarantino’, The Bloody Ballad was dropping some serious names before the cast even stepped on stage. It actually combined rockabilly music with a dark tale of incest, murder and love, performed by a talented ensemble that at times painted its bloody story as vividly as any freshly laundered and taken to the woods star spangled flag.

The second half of the performance was the stronger, with cracking tunes and twisted psyches in full swing, whilst parts of the spoken exposition in the first part suffered for feeling baggy and an overly conscious microphone technique.

These were mere gripes though, and once the audience recognised the tone and settled into it this was a remarkably enjoyable ride through wrongness that’s right and great harmonies.

The Warren, 3 May 2014

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