It seems a bit of a stretch from the lunacy of Carry on Sleuthing to helping build a drama designed to showcase the workings of a court room.
But that’s what happened.
Author Lin Anderson was one of the guests in our comedy play during the Grantown festival in 2017. I must have done something to impress her because when she was asked about a writer to assist in creating a courtroom play, she thought of me.
The Faculty of Advocates wanted to create a show that would give audiences a feeling of what actually goes in a Scottish court. Lin pointed them in my direction, feeling my background in true crime and putting shows together would come in handy.
The result is You the Jury, which can be seen during Bloody Scotland this September.
The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that the title is something I’ve used before, when I’ve presented the facts of real-life criminal cases in narrative form, with names and locations changed, and invited audiences to decide on a verdict.
The difference here is that we’ll be in a real court – Stirling’s Sheriff Court. Instead of me standing up there solo and reading the facts, practising lawyers will take on the roles of prosecution and defence. The court staff seen will be played by people who actually perform these duties. The expert witnesses giving evidence will be real-life scientists. Only the civilian witnesses will be played by ‘actors’.
The basis is an actual case from the 1930s, with names changed and certain evidential details either amended or updated.
Members of the audience will be invited to form the jury and at the end of the hour long show will be asked to deliver a verdict on what they have heard.
Originally, there were to be two performances, on the afternoon and evening of Saturday September 21.
They sold out very quickly and a third performance was slotted in for Sunday afternoon.
You can find out more and book tickets for the additional performance Here
