Devising

In one of our lessons we a small amount of time to look at our stimulus and to create a short theatrical piece to go with it. At this point our stimulus was only the picture of Myra Hindley as we hadn’t started our research, however we did know a brief background to what they had done and the crime they had committed all we didn’t know was the details. With this information and stimulus we created a physical piece of theatre, which looked at the manipulation that they had on the children and how they controlled them and abused them as they had all the power.

 

We used the idea of puppets to show the power and control that they had over the children. It started by having four of the actors lying on the floor with two of us in the middle, being the couple. We started of the piece with the couple holding hands, we thought this showed unity and it lead the audience into a false sense of security of a romantic setting or a piece about a loving couple. We did this because to the outside world when the murders were taking place, they could have seemed like an ordinary couple, and we were showing the deceit by deceiving the audience. Then the couple went to each actor on the floor and started to pick them up, we started to mould them into different child like positions, such as crying or clapping, however they moved very robotically. We did this because it showed how the children had been stripped of their childhood and even if they were to play or look like children, they would empty and mechanical inside as the couple had taken away and manipulated their souls.

 

We then used an adaptation of this in our final piece of theatre as we thought it demonstrated the horror that the children had gone through, in an abstract, theatrical way.

 

One of the main things in our group we wanted to do was to show the horribleness of their crime but to also show the romantic side of their relationship and to show them as humans and an ordinary couple. We wanted to do this to challenge the audience as we felt it would make them look at the couple in another light and in a weird way connect to them, which would hopefully leave them confused as morally and instinctively they would hate and be disgusted by their crime, but learning about their personal lives could lead them to connect to them. We thought it was interesting to look at them as humans and to show that there is horrible and dirtiness in everyone but also there is a love in all, even if that love is messed up and only makes sense to the people in the relationship. We did this by having all the children turn into the couples thoughts and to go around the audience saying things such as “do you know what sex is” and “I don’t want to hurt you”, this was so that the audience could be inside their minds and hear what was happening to the children. As the actors would be saying this directly to the audience they could experience first hand the horrible acts that had been committed and hopefully even scare them. However then we contrasted this with the couple’s first meeting, where we physically showed the instant passion and romance with in them. We experimented with an exercise where one person try’s to kiss the other, and the other person at the last minute moves away. However the way we did was in a flirty, sensual way so that you could see the intense emotions and love building inside of them. We though that this would take the audience on an emotional journey of hating the couple to being taken in by their romance and pure love for each other. We deliberately took each part to the extreme, make the love really romantic and the child taking scenes really disturbing, to hopefully really challenge the audience and to take them into a completely different world where they were constantly enthralled in emotion and action.

 

When going into our site the audience come down a set of stairs, and then we want them in a circle around us, so that they can move in and out of the action happening as they wish. We would start the action as soon as the first audience member came down the stairs. This is so that the audience felt like they were walking into a completely different world and so that the atmosphere almost hit them straight away. We wanted them to be able to move around so it was as if they were inside the couples mind, this would especially take place in the scenes where their thoughts were being spoken. Also we felt like it would bring them into the action being played out and make them part of the performance.

 

We have made our piece of theatre non linear, so there is no real beginning, middle or end. This has allowed us to experiment with different forms of acting as well. Part of our pieces is very abstract and physical theatre, while other parts are naturalistic. The naturalistic piece that we are doing is a scene in a police station. One of the reasons was so that it would break up the performance and the audience could go on another journey as they would learn more about the characters in the naturalistic scenes and they verbal attitude. However the abstract parts express the emotions more powerfully and the themes of manipulation and love can come across a lot more strongly. I hope that this will have a really interesting effect on the audience as some part, like the abstract bits they will all have different interpretations on, and the naturalistic bit will make them learn more about the characters as humans.  

Research

This is a painting of Myra Hindley made by Marcus Harvey, out of childrens handprints. In our site there are handprints all around the outside and wall surrounding it. And form those handprints when doing research we found this picture and it became a stimulus for our piece of theatre. We started by looking into the background Myra Hindley and how she became the most hated women in Britian and the horrible crime that she and her partner committed. One of the things that I thought was most interesting is how most people remember her name and see her as the prominate one in the killings. Personally, from doing sociology, I think she is remembered because most people in society don't see women as being capable of doing such a horific crime and as women are supposed to be maternal and caring. Consequently it seems even more unbeliveable that a woman was invloved in the murders and sexual assults as people in general wouldn't think of a woman being capable of doing such a crime. Also because of the majoirty of people who are in prison being men, the stereotype for rapist and murders are that they are male, so it was even more shocking that a woman had been invloved, therefore leaving her as more memerable in their minds.

Also from research what I have found out is that Myra's partner: Ian Brady was thought of as to be mentally and was actually declaired to be clinically insane, so in some ways this doesn't make it acceptable, however people can see how this man wasn't in the right frame of mind. However Myra on the other hand, was seen to be mentally healthy. This makes it even harder to understand or even to get your head around as it is hard to belive that any sane person would do such a horrific act, numerous times.

Research - source wiki

The Moors murders were carried out by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley between July 1963 and October 1965, in and around what is now Greater Manchester, England. The victims were five children aged between 10 and 17—Pauline Reade, John Kilbride, Keith Bennett, Lesley Ann Downey and Edward Evans—at least four of whom were sexually abused. The murders are so named because two of the victims were discovered in graves dug on Saddleworth Moor; a third grave was discovered on the moor in 1987, more than 20 years after Brady and Hindley's trial in 1966. The body of a fourth victim, Keith Bennett, is also suspected to be buried there, but despite repeated searches it remains undiscovered.
The police were initially aware of only three killings, those of Edward Evans, Lesley Ann Downey and John Kilbride. The investigation was reopened in 1985, after Brady was reported in the press as having confessed to the murders of Pauline Reade and Keith Bennett. Brady and Hindley were taken separately to Saddleworth Moor to assist the police in their search for the graves, both by then having confessed to the additional murders.
Characterised by the press as "the most evil woman in Britain", Hindley made several appeals against her life sentence, claiming she was a reformed woman and no longer a danger to society, but she was never released. She died in 2002, aged 60. Brady was declared criminally insane in 1985, since when he has been confined in the high-security Ashworth Hospital. He has made it clear that he never wants to be released, and has repeatedly asked that he be allowed to die.
The murders, reported in almost every English-language newspaper in the world, were the result of what Malcolm MacCulloch, professor of forensic psychiarty at Cardiff University, called a "concatenation of circumstances", which brought together a "young woman with a tough personality, taught to hand out and receive violence from an early age" and a "sexually sadistic psychopath".

Research - FactFile

Names:	Ian Duncan Stewart Myra Hindley                     Known as the Moors Murders
Born	Brady: (1938-01-02) 2 January 1938 Hindley: (1942-07-23)23 July 1942
Died	Hindley: 15 November 2002(2002-11-15) (aged 60) Brady : Aged 75
Cause of death	Bronchial Pneumonia
Conviction	Murder
Sentence	Life Imprisoment
No. of Victiums	5
Country	England
Date apprehended	Brady: 7 October 1965 Hindley: 11 October 1965

Research - Article on Myra Hindley- from Daily Mail website

'I was more culpable because I knew better': Moors murderer Myra Hindley admitted she was worse than Ian Brady because she understood right from wrong

• Prison papers about Myra Hindley released early to national archives
• She and lover Ian Brady killed and tortured five children in the 1960s
• Bodies of victims were then buried on Saddleworth Moor near Manchester
• The killer spoke of her 'love' for children and desire to work with old people if she was ever released

Myra Hindley admitted that she was even worse and more wicked than her fellow Moors Murderer Ian Brady, it has emerged today.

She even spoke of her 'love' for children and desire to work with old people if she was ever released.
The child-killer said she was more 'culpable' than her partner-in-crime because she knew better and 'knew the difference between right and wrong'.
Hindley's astonishing confession has been uncovered as secret details about the killer's time in a Suffolk jail were today revealed in prison files.

Self-improvement: Moors murderer Myra Hindley turned herself from a 'brassy blonde' to an 'intelligent, well-educated woman' and even earned an Open University degree, pictured right, new files have revealed

It sees new light shone on her clandestine trips to the county's hospitals, and her last views on the brutal pair's notorious killings.

Evil: Ian Brady who killed five children with Myra Hindley between July 1963 and October 1965

Hindley, branded the 'most hated woman in Britain', was jailed for life in May 1966 for the barbaric murders of Lesley Ann Downey, 10, and Edward Evans, 17.
She was also an accessory to the horrific murder of John Kilbride, 12, by Brady.
In 1987 Hindley and Brady confessed to murdering Pauline Reade, 16, and Keith Bennett, 12.
Hindley, who was at Highpoint Prison at Stradishall, near Newmarket, from 1998, died in 2002 aged 60.
Her confidential files were supposed to have remained secret for another 50 years.
But, due to intense public interest, they have been released to the national archives and are now being studied and ordered by Dr Tom Clark, a lecturer at the University of Sheffield.
The typed reports, handwritten notes and prison correspondence, which Dr Clark has been working on for three years, give a unique snapshot of Hindley through the eyes of fellow prisoners, welfare workers, warders and chaplains.
And prison documents, which include a final psychological assessment made in the months before her death, carry blood-chilling accounts of how she felt about the Moors murders, which horrified the nation.
The interviews reveal that although Hindley believed Brady initiated the killings her attitude towards involvement shifted from 'one of fear to one of a willing participant who enjoyed the feelings of affinity with Mr Brady which involvement in the offences afforded her'.

 

Hindley also suggests she recognises her own culpability by stating: '...although by the end I had become as corrupt as Ian was, there is a distinction...I did not instigate...but I knew the difference between right and wrong...I didn't have a compulsion to kill...I wasn't in charge...but in some ways I was more culpable because I knew better.'

Victims: Pauline Reade, 16, left, was their first victim and John Kilbride was killed in 1963

Murdered: Lesley Ann Downey, 10, left, and Edward Evans, 17, right

Twelve-year-old Keith Benett was abducted on his way to visit his grandmother in Manchester on 16 June 1964. His body has never been found

The document reports that Hindley was 'extremely tearful' as she stated 'I've affected so many people.'
She said that coverage of the Soham murders in August 2002 - when Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells, both 10, were murdered by Ian Huntley - had brought back 'painful memories.'
Hindley added: 'I can see how the public perceive my offences since the Cambridge offences.'
During the interviews her lack of mobility is also noted, with the claim that her ability to 'engage in direct physically aggressive acts' is reduced.
Hindley, who was described in other documents at the time as 'generally cheerful' and even 'houseproud', appeared to be content with 'unofficial segregation' in her single room at Highpoint.
She states: 'I would like to stay here...peace of mind...good staff...appreciation of mum's needs...told may move to Foston Hall (in Derbyshire)...I do not want to go there...too far for visits....prefer to stay here at Highpoint.'
'I've made my funeral arrangements for here in case I die in prison,' said Hindley.
But the Roman Catholic convert still hoped she would be released from prison to spend time with her family, despite what she admitted was 'the real threat of assassination'.
Hindley added: 'I would like to work with old people...know I can~t work with children...but love children...would like to be of some help to older people.'
The documents, which include letters to then Home Secretary Jack Straw, also chart Hindley's ailing health and top-secret operations to take her to West Suffolk Hospital, Bury St Edmunds, and Addenbrooke's, Cambridge.
Letters dated December 21, 1999, and addressed to senior members of the prison service, said Hindley would be attending West Suffolk Hospital on December 30 as an in-patient for between two and five days after suffering 'ill-health for some time'.

Jailed: Hindley was put in charge of the kitchen on E wing at Holloway Prison in North London and died in 2002 at Highpoint Prison, Suffolk

The letter goes on to say that the visit could not be 'out and back' because the 'media are on the scent' and the savage multiple child-killer was more at risk of an attack than she was likely to escape.
An accompanying document said Hindley should be cuffed when travelling to the hospital and on a closeting chain when moving from her bed 'mainly to prevent abduction, though there is always a possibility of her attempting to escape'.
The report, which stressed that Hindley could not be relied upon to keep arrangements secret, added: 'It is probably fair to say that neither she nor the staff who care for her here have much real idea of the true risks of her visit to hospital.'
Hindley suffered ill-health throughout her 36 years in jail and suffered from the heart condition angina, high blood pressure and brittle bone disease osteoporosis.
Although the exact reason for her visit to West Suffolk Hospital is not contained in documents seen, she is known to have had heart scans and suffered a stroke while at Highpoint - attributed to her heavy smoking - in January 2000.
One document in the archive gives details of 'Operation Charlton', the pre-planned admission of Hindley into Addenbrooke's on January 13, 2000.
The exercise was named after Hindley's pseudonym, Christine Charlton, which was used at all times when communicating with the hospital.
The document, which includes the exact route into the hospital, also explains how the prisoner should be guarded by officers in civilian clothing.
Hindley died in West Suffolk Hospital in November 2002 from a serious chest infection that followed a suspected heart attack two weeks before.
She received the last rites from a Catholic priest.