Ballad Lines
Producer:
Aria Entertainment, KT Producing
Year:
2026
Director:
Tania Azevedo
Venue:
Elephant, Southwark Playhouse
Ballad Lines is a powerful folk musical following three women across three centuries as they confront the stories they inherit and the choices that shape them. Blending Scottish, Irish and Appalachian influences, Ballad Lines is a soaring tale of family, identity and legacy.
The scope of the musical called for a powerful gesture onstage against the confines of a shallow thrust stage. Responding to the epic voyages of the Scots-Irish and utilising the height of the space, we sited most of the domestic scenes of the show within an apartment that also implied the innards of a ship.
The string curtain backdrop, cut to look like the Appalachian mountain ranges helped to reinforce this sense of a broader elemental landscape. Combined, the set helped situate personal histories within larger journeys and struggles for freedom and autonomy.
