- World premiere drama by leading Scottish playwright Morna Young
- Presented by multiple Fringe First winners Pepperdine Scotland
A group of teenagers are stuck in a murder ballad they cannot escape – the killer could be anywhere or anyone. Could it be you?
Welcome to a land where law puts gun ownership ahead of life in the name of freedom, where media and musical traditions glamourise killers, where mass murder has become performance – seeking to bump up the body count for maximum notoriety.
This is a nation where politicians and powerful interest groups have helped create a climate of fear, where every stranger is treated with suspicion and citizens are told to arm themselves.
Americana: A Murder Ballad is the latest work from leading Scottish playwright Morna Young, with music by Davey Anderson, and presented by the multiple Fringe First Award winning Pepperdine Scotland.
Young, named Scots Writer of the Year in 2019, has created a drama which uses the murder ballad (a musical form taken by Scots and Irish emigrants to the New World) to explore how America’s youth are trapped in a perpetual cycle of fear.
A folk musician herself, Young sees how these ballads that sentimentalise violence and criminality have become deeply ingrained in music and media. More than that, they say something disturbing about society in general.
She says: “I first approached Americana with the question: how do we break the cycle? Time and time again, we see shootings in America and the subsequent thoughts and prayers without meaningful change. Spending time with young Americans, I was devastated to learn of the Active Shooter drills that students practice: run, hide, fight. Far from being a rare occurrence, active shooters are now part of the country’s DNA.
“At the same time, I became increasingly interested in the use of murder within music and particularly ballads. The idea of a musical cycle, that restarts time and time again, allowed me to use structural form as a way to explore this perpetual cycle of violence.
“Whilst the gun problem may be US specific, Americana: A Murder Ballad taps into the universality of collective fear, and the consequences of mistrusted ‘othering’.”
Pepperdine Scotland specialises in creating collaborative works bringing together leading Scottish writers and drama students from Pepperdine University, California, to present a specially commissioned world premiere play at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Past projects have included The Abode by Davey Anderson (★★★★★ British Theatre Guide, ★★★★ The Herald, ★★★★British Theatre.com) and Fringe First winner The Interference by Lynda Radley (★★★★★ Broadway Baby, ★★★★★ British Theatre Guide, ★★★★ The Scotsman, ★★★★ The List).
Like previous Pepperdine Scotland productions Americana: A Murder Ballad, which is directed by Cathy Thomas-Grant, seeks to address pressing issues about the contemporary world.
In this case it questions the institutions that have enabled gun ownership to come ahead of human life. It also reflects the way that song has frequently become a way to romanticise acts of brutality, often against women, and those who commit them.
The production is highly relevant now, after woundings and deaths caused by guns (already rising sharply in 2018-19) leapt by 33% in the first 13 months of the pandemic from 32,348 to 43,288. Minnesota alone saw a 120% increase (see New Scientist).
About murder ballads
Murder ballads were highly popular in the 18th and 19th century, being taken from Scotland, Ireland and elsewhere in the UK to the USA. Their lyrics form a narrative describing the events of a murder, often including the lead-up and/or aftermath.
They had a powerful influence on American music that stretches across the centuries and through many genres, with songs such as Delia’s Gone or Long Black Veil by Johnny Cash, Where Did You Sleep Last Night (traditional but covered by Nirvana) or the Louvin Brothers with Knoxville Girl.
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Notes for editors
Listings Details
- Venue: Assembly Checkpoint (Venue 322)
- Time: 13:20
- Dates: 3-17 August 2022
- Previews: 3&4 August
- Duration: 75 minutes
- Ticket prices: Previews £8.50. Aug 6-9,12-14 £15.00 (£14.00 concessions) Aug 5,10-11,15-17 £13.50 (£12.50)
- Advisory: Age 14+
- Box office: www.edfringe.com and 0131 6233030
Reviewers welcome from 4 August.
Cast and creatives
- Company: Pepperdine Scotland
- Writer: Morna Young
- Director: Cathy Thomas Grant
- Music: Davey Anderson
- Lighting design: Benny Goodman
About Morna Young
Morna Young is an award-winning playwright from Moray. She was named Scots Writer of the Year at the inaugural Scots Language Awards in 2019.
Lost at Sea, Morna’s debut full-length play, premiered at Perth Theatre in 2019 before touring No. 1 venues in Scotland. Subsequently, the play won two Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS), a Broadway World Award and was a finalist in the Herald’s Culture Awards.
Other plays include The Silver Superheroes, Aye, Elvis and Netting (‘A Play a Pie and a Pint’), The Buke of the Howlat (Findhorn Bay Arts), Smite (Jermyn Street Theatre), She of the Sea (Paines Plough), B-Roads (Play Pieces) and Never Land (Eden Court). Digital work released in 2020/21 includes A Fairy Tale (Lyceum), A Passing Dance (Pitlochry Festival Theatre), Stella (Mull Theatre), The Twa Chrisses (Scots Language Centre), and Demon Island (Traverse). Morna’s upcoming productions include Americana: A Murder Ballad (Pepperdine, California), The Stamping Ground: A Runrig Musical (Raw Material Arts / Eden Court), The Snow Queen (Lyceum) and The Squawk Talk Secrets(Visible Fictions) and she is currently working with the Traverse, Mull Theatre, Rapture Theatre, Lyth Arts Centre and Pitlochry Festival Theatre. Morna is also developing a range of TV and film projects and she received the BBC Scotland scholarship in 2020.
Morna was recipient of the Dr Gavin Wallace Fellowship (2017), a New Playwrights Award (Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland, 2014) and the ‘Tomorrow at Noon’ award for female playwrights (Jermyn Street Theatre, 2018). Her international work includes The Traverse’s ‘Scotland-in-Japan’ residency, playwright-in-residence for BATS Theatre in New Zealand for three-months and a residency in Rome as part of the Muriel Spark 100 awards (both 2018).
Morna is also a multi-instrumentalist, composer and singer/songwriter, and half of the band Folkify along with Sandy Nelson.
Full information at www.mornayoung.com
About Davey Anderson
Davey Anderson’s previous work as composer and music director includes: Life is a Dream (Lyceum Theatre), And I’ll Huff, The Gift and Family Portrait (Barrowland Ballet), Dublin Carol (Donmar Warehouse), Enquirer, Peter Pan, Be Near Me and Black Watch (National Theatre of Scotland). As a playwright, Davey wrote The Abode for Pepperdine, which premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2018. The play has since been translated into Portuguese and performed in Brazil under the new title Freedom City. His other plays include Scavengers (Cia Artera), The Static (ThickSkin), Blackout (National Theatre Connections) and Snuff (The Arches). He was co-writer of Anything That Gives Off Light (The TEAM, National Theatre of Scotland) and First Snow / Première neige (NTS, Théâtre PÀP, Hotel Motel).
Pictures are free to use, please credit Matthew Hamm for rehearsal photos. Artwork is by Heather Tomlinson, Cake Graphic and Digital.
For media information contact Matthew Shelley at SFPR on 09786 704299 or at [email protected].