Bal Maiden Musical

Who were the Bal Maidens?

They were the young women who worked at the mines in Cornwall and Devon- bal being Cornish for mine. There have been records going way back to medieval times of these remarkable women but my fictional bal maiden, Merryn is from the 1840s.

These women were feisty, strong, determined and independent. Usually aged between 10 years and 21 they were working before they got married and settled down to have families.

Even though they did not earn very much at all, they were able to contribute to family finances which gave them a sense of pride in their work. They loved to dress up too on their days off and spend their hard earned cash on ribbons, collars, bows etc to make their dresses as fashionable as possible.

October 2024 – Open workshops

November 2024 – Auditions

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October 2025 – Regal Theatre, Redruth

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Who wrote the Bal Maiden Musical?

Lucetta Radcliffe aka LMTR is a musician and composer who has lived in Falmouth for over 20 years. Before that she lived in London, where she is from, but her mother is Italian so she is half Italian and half English.

She lived in Italy for a while when she was in her twenties teaching English to Italians and had a lot of fun in the process. She is married to Matt who is a brilliant guitarist and before they settled in Cornwall, they went on a musical adventure and travelled around Mexico, Brazil and Cuba where they also had a lot of fun. They have three children who are all very musical too and play a variety of instruments.

Lucetta sings and also plays the piano, flute, accordion. She used to teach the piano and also worked as an Associate Lecturer in Music Theatre at Falmouth University. Now her work is taken up with the River Notes choir which she conducts, Radio Rio, a four piece band that plays music from Brazil and now…the Bal Maiden Musical! (by the way Bal Maiden took her over seven years to write!) During the Covid pandemic she told herself it is now or never and she finally finished it.