Review: Bury the Hatchet (Southwark Playhouse Borough)

I was invited to review Bury the Hatchet at Southwark Playhouse Borough by Out of the Forest Theatre.  Written by Sasha Wilson, the narrative is based on the unsolved mystery of whether Lizzie Borden killed her own father and stepmother, and described as a lively melding of true crime, courtroom drama and live folk gig, I was keen to review the show.

On walking into The Little the set (Damien Stanton) was comprised of shelves featuring various items which were tagged, as if every piece may be evidence.  A shiny hatchet was suspended from the ceiling, and music was playing, focussing our concentration ready for what was about to unfold.

The performance started and so began a retelling of Lizzie Borden’s life after her mother died. Through a blend of speaking to the audience directly as if presenting a true crime documentary, to reenacting the situations that occurred, and then at times also discussing the play as actors, we heard about Lizzie’s family and the circumstances that led to the double murder at their family home.

Including live bluegrass folk music (and a touch of Mozart), the musicianship was superb. The combination of violin, mandolin and guitar was a good blend. The actors also multi role many characters (at one point somehow 2 at the same time), yet the distinctions between each of these characters are made clear either by spoken word, costumes, props or a combination of these.

The costume design (Helen Stewart) was perfect for the 1892 timeline, especially Lizzie Borden’s dress, but also with additional items to distinguish between the multiple characters each of the actors played.

The pacing is incredibly fast and gives the illusion of chaos at times, however this is very deliberate, planned meticulously and delivered with precision.  I particularly enjoyed the occasional blackout where in the seconds it took the lights to come up again, the cast had somehow silently repositioned themselves ready for the next scene in a completely different position, and at times character, than previously.

The cast, Sasha Wilson, Lawrence Boothman and David Leopold, work so well together, delivering comedy, fourth wall breaks, brief but intense audience interaction at times (sit in the front row if you’re up for this) and beautiful vocal harmonies.

Production photograph by Alex Brenner

The interesting thing about Bury the Hatchet is, it’s not trying to convince the audience about this cold case one way or another, instead there is material included from court transcripts and additional scenes that have been added that may or may not have happened. There’s so much information delivered in the show I would watch it again if I could, to see if I’d missed anything the first time. The desire to solve this puzzle is exactly what makes this type of true crime story so compelling.

The audience members are invited to make up their own minds on whether Lizzie was guilty, and on leaving the theatre there were voting buttons where you could choose whether you thought she was guilty or innocent. Interestingly, the vote was almost equal after the performance I saw.

Bury the Hatchet is the most genre-defying production I have seen yet the structure of it made complete sense given the subject matter.  The ability by the cast to perform so many distinct characters alongside switching in between acting, discussing between themselves and speaking to the audience was a masterclass in ensemble performance.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Bury the Hatchet is showing at Southwark Playhouse Borough until 5 September 2026. You can buy a ticket here.

If you would like to see my curtain call photographs from this and other shows, please visit my Instagram.

I was gifted a ticket for this show in exchange for an honest review.