Lord Bateman was a soldier. He sailed to the Turkish shore, landed in prison, and was freed by a woman who had no reason to help him — except that she wanted to. They made a vow: seven years. No other woman, no other man. Then come find me.
"Lord Bateman" is among the oldest ballads in this collection, first documented on a nineteenth-century broadside published in Glasgow, Scotland, and rooted in a folk tale that had already spawned related ballads in Norway, Italy, and Spain. Jean Ritchie recorded it for her classic Folkways album British Traditional Ballads in the Southern Mountains in 1960. Unlike most traditional ballads, it ends happily — which makes the stakes of this episode all the more present. The happiness is not guaranteed. It has to be chosen.
Ida Esmaeili sets this episode at Lord Bateman's wedding to someone else, flashing back through the years in Bateman and the Turkish Lady's own voices. This version is spare and sharp — a story about what it costs to wait, and what it costs when the person you waited for has already moved on.
A love story, a reckoning, and a song that refuses to let either of them off the hook.
Cast
Lord Bateman — Holden Howard
Turkish Lady — Tayler Bolling
Narrator — Ashlyn Mullins
Production Team
Director — Michael McNulty | Musical Guest/Narrator — William Ritter | Sound Effects Design — Rosa Bott | Audio Engineer — Samuel O'Sullivan | Poster Art — Jess Shadrick
"Lord Bateman" radio play is written by Ida Esmaeili. Commentary written by Natalie Axton.
