 The play "Maria Marten, or The Murder in the Red Barn" existed in various anonymous versions; it was a sensational hit throughout the mid-19th century and may have been the most performed play of the time.Victorian fairground peep shows were forced to add extra apertures for their viewers when exhibiting their shows of the murder.The plays of the Victorian era tended to portray Corder as a cold-blooded monster and Maria as the innocent whom he preyed upon; her reputation and her children by other fathers were airbrushed out, and Corder was made into an older man.