Over Her Dead Body is a 55-minute music show featuring various Appalachian Folk Songs.
The framing device is that of a folk music radio show called ‘Bluegrass Benediction’. The programme we are watching being recorded is a ‘ladies special’, where all four of the guests are women with various levels of expertise in the genre.
Ava, Rhonda, Hazel, and Emmy are here to sing, entertain, and educate us regarding the history of these songs. They are accompanied by musicians who appear live on stage, and who have been named the ‘Smoky Mountain Drifters’ for the purposes of the performance.
The evocation of a radio studio is very well done, and you really can believe that you are at a recording of a radio programme, somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains, in deepest rural America.
There’s more than a hint of connection to Scotland here. Many immigrants to the Appalachians travelled there from Scotland, and took their music with them. You can hear the influence of jigs and reels and traditional Scottish instruments woven through the music.
The intent is that the group of four women will sing the songs, assisted by the band, and ‘Big Willie’, the male host of the radio programme.
That plan quickly goes awry when Ava is possessed by the spirit of one of the women. Polly, who has been featured in one of the songs. From there, we begin to hear about some of the women who are referred to in the songs as the possessive spirit moves host. As the songs often refer to women being murdered, it all becomes somewhat spooky, as everyone tries to work out exactly what is going on.
The character of Hazel is an academic, and so brings a range of genuinely interesting facts to the performance, including that many of the women in these songs have no name. Their murderers and assaulters are named and remembered, but they are not extended the same courtesy.
The point made by all the women, who each have their own expertise, and their own approach to the songs, is that no-one has written from the women’s points of view, and no-one has ever questioned why the men are never to blame for their own poor behaviour, and often even poorer choices.
In common with a number of other productions at this year’s Fringe, this show asks questions about whose stories we tell and who gets to tell them. Additionally, the songs’ evolution over time is a factor.
Because Bluegrass began as an oral tradition, the songs have shifted and changed, sometimes to reflect the changes in the audience, and the performers. Within the world of the radio programme, the women want to start shifting the narrative, and relating the women’s side of the story, to rebalance the perception that any ‘punishment’ that befalls a woman is somehow her own fault.
Towards the end of the performance, the four women present a long list of all the things women ‘should not do. This makes for depressing listening and reinforces the notion that victim-blaming is still all too prevalent.
This is an enjoyable show with an intriguing framing device. If you enjoy bluegrass/Appalachian music mixed with horror and ‘murder ballads’, then this show will pull you in with its clever storytelling and excellent musicianship.
Over Her Dead Body continues at Greenside @ George Street – Forest Theatre (Venue 236) at 7.35pm (19:35) until August 24th (not 18th)
