A PROJECT to translate traditional folk ballads into theatre will be curated by a group of young musicians and actors.

Rossendale-based Horse and Bamboo Theatre was the winner of a competitive commissioning process by the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS).

The Theatre Ballads will be developed by singers and musicians Bryony Griffith, Kate Locksley, Ewan McLennan and John Kirkpatrick alongside puppeteer Gretchen Maynard-Hahn.

Horse and Bamboo, which has been running since 1978, will receive a £4,000 bursary to research and develop The Theatre Ballads, working in partnership with EFDSS, The Met Bury and Colston Hall in Bristol.

The show will debut at the home of EFDSS, Cecil Sharp House in London, on March 23 next year followed by performances at Colston Hall on March 24 and The Met on March 25.

Winning the commission was a major coup for the Waterfoot-based theatre, which brings national and international shows to East Lancashire, and runs music nights, films, workshops and training courses in addition to its family orientated programme and an annual Puppet Festival.

It’s theatre, The Boo, is based in Bacup Road.

Producer Esther Ferry-Kennington from Horse and Bamboo said: “We are delighted to have won the commission.

“We aim to create an evocative new look at visual theatre and folk music combining voices, harmonies, stories, puppets, music and animation.

“This is a new style of performance somewhere between an evening at the theatre and a music gig.

“Folk ballads we have been researching so far include ‘Con Yo’ Help us a Bit’, a song about the consequences of the Lancashire mills closing, which is pertinent today, that will be developed into a stop-frame animation and ‘The Female Smuggler’ that could become a suitcase puppet show.”

Katy Spicer, EFDSS chief executive and artistic director, said: “The chosen projects will allow established and emerging artists to explore traditional English folk arts and deliver their own unique interpretation to audiences who may be new to the genre.”