Lizzie by Steven Cheslik-deMeyer, Tim Maner & Alan Stevens Hewitt. Southwark Playhouse Elephant, Dante Place, London to 02 December, 2023.

2**: William Russell.

There are leave at he interval evenings in the theatre and had I been a paying customer this raucous and ridiculous evening proved one of them. Lizzie Borden, as most people probably know, in Fall River, Massachusetts in 1892 took an axe, gave her mother forty whacks and when she what she had done gave her father forty one. She got off when tried. Had I an axe to hand I would have used it on the show. The cast of four, when given the chance, can clearly sing but that is when they are using their body mikes. They also have microphones in holsters and use these when required to belt a number, which is frequently, and then they bellow remorselessly while the lyrics, such as they are, come over as a mishmash of noise. The hope Mill theatre production directed and choreographed by William Whatton has been on tour and has one more date to fill at the New Theatre in Peterborough from 6 to 16 December. The worst moment in the production is arguably the finale when, in a straight lift from Six, the women emerge dressed in what possibly passes for street clothes – tights, shorts, low cut tops – to bellow a selection of songs to send the audience on its way. But with Six you heard the words and the words were worth listening to. The tunes were also better as three of the performers who at one time or another appeared in Six possibly know. This is rock by numbers and story and song collide. Whatton undeniably has a vision but whether one wishes to share it is quite another matter. The Borden daughters did not like their stepmother and were treated badly by their father – their problem was partly what could happen to them if his money went to his wife and Lizzie appears to be encouraged to try to poison her before, after her father has slaughtered her beloved pigeons, taking the axe first to stepmother and then to him, elder sister Emma having gone away for a few days and the maid, a venal Irish woman, prepared to look the other way. The trial itself gets short shrift – which is a peculiar dramatic decision - and much is made of Lizzie’s dalliance with the girl next door to little effect. Lizzie did precede Six but it does it no service by linking the shows together as happens at the end. There is, however, a rather good set with some clever projections to create the horror of the Borden home, by designer Andrew Exeter and video designer Dan Light and the band under Honor Halford-Macleod churns out the score with great enthusiasm.

Cast

Lawren Drew – Lizzie.

Malya Quansah-Bread - Alice.

Shekinah McFarlane – Emma.

Mairi Barclay – Bridget.

Creatives

Director & Choreographer – William Whelton.

Set & Lighting Designer –Andrew Exeter.

Musical Director – Honor Halford-MacLeod.

Costume Designer – Rachel Tensey.

Sound Designer – Adam Fisher.

Video Designer – Dan Light.

Dialect Coach – Manny Crooks.