A PLAY partly inspired by the murders of the Soham schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman opened at the Fringe to protests yesterday, the anniversary of the ten-year-old girls’ disappearance.
Producers of Shades of Red were left to defend the production against accusations of tastelessness and gross exploitation. The timing of the production was condemned by politicians and parents’ groups as wholly inappropriate.
A scene involving the slashing of a girl’s throat also caused anger after the murder last month of the schoolgirl Jodi Jones, 14, in Dalkeith, Midlothian. Sandra White, a Scottish National Party MSP, said: “It’s disgusting and disgraceful that something like this is being put on at the festival. I would urge the organisers to look at the content of the plays.”
The Rev Timothy Alban-Jones, the vicar of Soham, said that he was deeply saddened at the timing. “The subject matter seems hugely inappropriate,” he said.
Julie Bannister, the play’s director, said: “We have not promoted the fact that we have used these real-life cases in our research out of respect for the families involved.”