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Bury The Hatchet

 
Mark Harding Review by Mark Harding 4 Published: 9 Aug 2025 Pleasance Dome Show Dates: 30 Jul 2025-25 Aug 2025

It starts with music, song and a scream. Bury The Hatchet is a forensic examination of the details and geography of the house and its inhabitants on the day of the double murder, Lizzie’s life leading up to the event, the police investigation, the autopsy, the trial, the witnesses and the aftermath. But this is not an episode of Silent Witness. Instead, it is a show full of laughs, self-parodying Grand Guignol, and toe-tapping and dramatic songs ranging in genre from bluegrass to contemporary rock.

Full of laughs, self-parodying Grand Guignol, and toe-tapping and dramatic songs

The music from the three performers – Sasha Wilson, David Leopold and Joseph Prowen – singing and playing guitar, violin and mandolin is top-notch. Their acting ranges from funny to dramatic, but is always engaging. The characters in the show include the local police, the judge, the maid, Lizzie’s sister, Lizzie’s friends, her stepmother, her father and, of course, Lizzie herself. The show switches between dramatised dialogue and action to the narration of details and discussion (and disagreement) of various theories.

The show, written by Wilson, is incredibly well researched, down to such details as the rooms being too small to swing an axe, meaning the murder weapon had to be a hatchet. Even the most ardent Lizzie Borden investigator is likely to find new facts or perspectives here.

If you are intrigued by the Lizzie Borden story, are a fan of true crime, or simply enjoy a damn good show, then the hatchet is waiting for you.

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The Blurb:

Lizzie Borden took an axe... Andrew Borden and his wife Abby are found dead in Fall River, Massachusetts August 1892. Their daughter Lizzie is the main suspect. Tried but acquitted of the crime, the story goes that she wielded the axe that killed them. Overnight, she becomes America's original 'mad, bad and dangerous to know' icon. Set to bluegrass music and murder ballads, this irreverently presented, knee-slapping ensemble show fuses gallows humour and vaudevillian horror. Winners of Off West End Award for Best Ensemble, Out Of The Forest Theatre are back.