The Murderess
The Murderess written by Neil Edwards and directed by Emily Bignell, was produced as part of the 2019 Gainsborough Literacy Project. Shooting Fish work with young people to write and co-produce new work with the support of professional artists. The young people involved are not in full-time education, training or employment, or are struggling with mainstream education because of learning and/or behavioural difficulties and additional literacy needs. The Murderess was conceived from a short story written by Chloe, aged 16.
The Murderess was performed at Trinity Arts Centre, Gainsborough and The Venue, Lincoln in May 2019. It was well received by our audiences and even gained us a feature article in The British Theatre Guide: www.britishtheatreguide.info/features/shooting-fish-shooting-a-bull-273
Synopsis
1895. In a prison cell, 72-year old Margaret Van woods awaits imminent executi
on for the mass murder of young women, conducted over a 40 year reign of terror. The night before her hanging a ghostwriter visits, charged with the task of penning Margaret’s story; an unprecedented opportunity to unearth the truth behind the frenzied killings.
What were the motivations and methods? How did Margaret evade capture for so long? And why, most alarmingly, was every victim missing her heart?
“How many were there in the end?” the ghost-writer asks the murderess.
But she never gets her answer . . .
For the total number has still to be settled.
Future Plans
We are very excited to announce that for the first time since the inception of our Literacy Project in 2013 we will be touring work produced. The Murderess is set to hit venues autumn 2021. For more information and to watch our trailer for the production visit www.themurderess.co.uk/
