Myra Hindley Cooperates on Fringe Play

Moors murderer Myra Hindley has cooperated on a new play about her which will premiere next month at the Edinburgh Fringe festival.

Myra and Me, written by Diane Dubois, explores the notion of Hindley as a 20th century cultural icon as seen through the eyes of a group of media students, one of whom is writing a treatment for a documentary film on the woman. Reactions of the characters, all of whom were not yet born at the time of the moors murders, vary from contempt to disinterest and greed.

Dubois claims that she researched the play mainly through books and old newspaper reports rather than by talking to Hindley. Director Richard Green sent a copy of the finished script to Hindley, still in prison for her part in the crimes, who is reported to have found it 'thoughtful and powerful'. She told Green she had no objections to the play's production.

The play has, however, raised objections from relatives of some of Hindley's victims who are angry that their children's murderer should become a figure of entertainment. In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Anne West, mother of Lesley Ann Downey, killed when she was 10, said, 'I think it's disgusting that anything has been written on the subject.'

West warned that the play's producers, the Northern Theatre Company, should be prepared for protests at its Edinburgh performances. In September, following the festival, Myra and Me is scheduled to transfer to the Hull Truck Theatre.

Myra Hindley was jailed for life in 1966 after being convicted, with her lover Ian Brady, of murdering Leslie Ann Downey, 12-year-old John Kilbride and 17-year-old Edward Evans.

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