“A lively but safe attempt to break a tragic story out of its historical restraints”
Renowned legal firm Mishcon de Reya have recently applied for the King’s pardon against hanged murderess Ruth Ellis. Timely fitting then, that a new musical about the events leading up to her death have been staged at the magnificent Wilton’s Music Hall. Ellis was the last woman hanged in England, having shot her lover David Blakely after untold amounts of abuse at the hands of almost every man she encountered.
The conceit is that there are two main Ruths. Cell Ruth and Past Ruth (played by Bibi Simpson and Hannah Traylen respectively). Unfortunately Cell Ruth spends her time exclusively upstage right in her cell, moodily pouting and reminiscing to her hangman Albert Pierrepoint (played by Ian Puleston-Davies), or otherwise sat on a chair in darkness. The rest of the plot is given to Past Ruth during her time running a Knightsbridge nightclub. It is in this establishment she meets her ill-fated lover and abuser David Blakely (played by Connor Payne) and the man who genuinely appears to care for her- Desmond Cussen (played by John Faal). Historical facts and event sequencing are loosely followed thereafter.
Is this story elevated by being a musical? The jazz music is excellent at providing world-building and tone; however the adjoining lyrics were simple, pedestrian and often cringe-worthy. The songs felt genuinely superfluous in what could be a slick little play with an exceptional jazz noir soundtrack- amplified by saxophonist Mel Henry. Both Ruths play their simplistic versions of her brilliantly-. Simpson’s prisoner is explored as a compulsive liar, the use of dramatic irony deployed to demonstrate she is perhaps creating a version of herself she wishes she were but that the audience knows never was. Traylen’s version, a vampy songstress looked and sounded believable as an ill-treated vintage vixen reminiscent of Chicago’s Roxie Hart.
Ellis’s fate was sealed when she pulled the trigger on her lover Blakely. What should have been the crux of the argument in a gripping courtroom scene- her defense of a prolonged victim of domestic abuse- was barely touched upon, nor was her quite frankly harrowing life. Physically and sexually abused by her father, her life remained marred in tragedy with abortions, spousal abuse and miscarriage. The play never really explores her psychological trauma, and instead paints her as a victim of fate with no agency, instead another example of the “hooker with a heart of gold” trope. Maybe she was also an awful person? There are plenty of women in absolutely dire situations who never go on to kill people.
This show, with its excellent actors and musicians, offers a predictable representation of a woman abused at every turn, presenting her as a victim of circumstance but digging no deeper into the meat of the question at hand- why did Ruth Ellis kill the man she claimed to love?
Ruth: The Musical is on at Wilton’s Music Hall until 28th March 2026.