“Lizzie Borden took an axe/She gave her mother forty whacks/When she saw what she had done/She gave her father forty-one.” We do like to make nursery rhymes out of the morbid. The tale of Borden is probably most likely known because of its associated rhyme. This grotesque tale, often part of true-crime fame, has been taken by Out Of The Forest Theatre and dissected for us as a play querying Borden’s true tale.

Beginning the show, we are introduced to our three performers through song, with a folk twist. They enter the stage, foreboding, in dress to fit the era of Borden but soon break into different characters. Throughout, they will take on the multiple roles throughout the production, but break that forth wall to question the facts as well as one another on the case. They take what is written in history, and attempt to find some logic and whether Borden was really guilty or not. They drive the theatrical, creating scenes that are explicitly potential reasonings around the act, ones we have no idea that are true but with some evidence to point somewhere in those directions.

This chopping and changing of not only roles but from the scene to the debate is highly effective; with the use of basic props and changes in light and song, they are able to break those walls between the dramatic scene and analysing what is shown. With them, we begin to think about our own opinion of the case, through the truths and through the mistakes, and truly, I come out even more unsure than before, with compelling storytelling for both guilty and innocent.

They also use little bits of comedy; they bounce off one another, tiny “arguments” in the debating, or banter between friends, sometimes addressing us within this, making it endearing and does well to break down the barriers of the morbid.

The music and accompanied singing is faultless; it helps not only set the scene and embed us in the era, but it is catchy and sometimes a little creepy, adding to the emotions heightened throughout. The use of live instruments, as simple a band as this is, fills the room and only adds to the atmosphere created.

Bury The Hatchet is a well rounded production, creating an atmosphere of suspicion and sleuthing and a place for true-crime nuts to sink their teeth into.