In 1964 an Oxford student theatre group wrote and performed a ballad/folk opera - call it what you will - entitled "Hang Down Your Head and Die". It was a sometimes serious, sometimes comic, production which looked at the question of capital punishment in a format similar to Joan Littlewood's "Oh What a Lovely War!" After a successful run in Oxford, the production transferred for most of the Easter vacation to a London theatre, where it got good reviews and did good business.

So far as I know, it has never been revived on stage, but the script may well still exist, and many of the songs are certainly recoverable. For further information, contact Mudcatter Greg Stephens, who arranged some of the traditional songs, wrote some of the new ones, and also played in the pit band.

Wassail!