\n Wealthy Victorian socialite Madeleine Smith, who was just 22, received a not proven verdict for the Blythswood Square murder of her lover, Pierre Emile L’Angelier, after a trial in which racy letters between the two were read aloud and printed in newspapers.\n<\/p>\n
\n A new musical play coming to Glasgow\u2019s lunchtime theatre series at Oran Mor reignites the debate around the famous story.\n<\/p>\n
\n (Image: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan)\n<\/p>\n
\n The Glasgow Poisoner, which starts on Monday at A Play A Pie and A Pint, has been written and directed by Tom Cooper and Jen McGregor, with musical direction by Samuel Macdonald.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe were drawn to this tale of romance, blackmail and poison by the figure of Madeleine and the different possibilities she represents,\u201d explains Jen.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cShe definitely purchased arsenic, and a large amount of it was found in her dead lover\u2019s stomach. But beyond this, things may or may not be as they seem.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n (Image: GordonTerris\/Herald&Times)\n<\/p>\n
\n The musical takes place from the perspective of an aspiring pamphleteer, who is determined to work out definitively whether Madeleine is innocent or guilty.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt felt like any telling of the story should look at different versions of what might have happened,\u201d explains Tom.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIn Victorian times, pamphlets were the equivalent of the true crime podcast.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cOur fascination with crime has been around forever.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Jen agrees. \u201cThere has also always been a fascination with female killers and women on trial,\u201d she says.\n<\/p>\n
\n (Image: Mitchell Library Special Collections)\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cMadeleine was even more interesting, because she wasn\u2019t working class, she was well off, which was not typical in those days of the women you\u2019d see in court.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Madeleine was the daughter of a prominent Glasgow architect, James Smith, of Blythswood Square. The family lived at the prestigious city address, and Madeleine had spent two years at a fancy girls\u2019 finishing school.\n<\/p>\n
\n She met Emile in 1855, when he was a ten-shillings-a-week clerk from Jersey and, therefore, an impossible match for her. Their friendship developed into a clandestine love affair, openly revealed in her letters, sometimes in risque detail.\n<\/p>\n
\n Madeleine was set to marry William Minnoch, a much more suitable match, but Emile did not take this news well, and threatened to publish the letters. Shortly afterwards, he was found dead of arsenic poisoning.\n<\/p>\n
\n In the course of preparing for the play, Tom and Jen visited the Mitchell Library\u2019s Special Collections, which is home to 13 of Madeleine\u2019s letters to Emile and framed photos of the infamous couple used as evidence in the trial, with corresponding evidence tags.\n<\/p>\n
\n (Image: GordonTerris\/Herald&Times)\n<\/p>\n
\n The library also has a courtroom sketch from the proceedings, which was reprinted in the newspapers covering the case at the time.\n<\/p>\n
\n Madeleine was faced with two charges of attempted murder, because of her purchase of poison and the illness of Emile, and she was found not guilty of both. On the third charge of murder, the case was declared not proven.\n<\/p>\n
\n Many questions remain unanswered \u2013 Madeleine did buy arsenic, but at that time, many young people used it for their complexions; and Emile also used arsenic and other drugs, such as laudanum, recreationally.\n<\/p>\n
\n There is also evidence Emile was controlling and unkind, and that he had persistently threatened to take his own life.\n<\/p>\n
\n (Image: Mitchell Library Special Collections)\n<\/p>\n
\n Susan Taylor, Special Collections librarian, says visitors to the library remain intrigued by Madeleine\u2019s story.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe receive regular requests from people who want to see the letters – I think people still just really want to try to solve the case,\u201d she explains.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cTom and Jen\u2019s play sounds really interesting – it\u2019s always fascinating to hear new versions of this story.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n The Glasgow Poisoner stars Chiara Sparkes as Madeleine, David Joseph Healy as Emile, and Morgan E Ross as the pamphleteer. It features ten original songs by musical director and composer Samuel Macdonald, with design by Heather Grace Currie.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe\u2019ve used music and sign to give us more ways to stack information and feeling into this story – plus, it\u2019s great fun,\u201d says Tom. \u201cWe love theatre that absorbs you in a world, puts a smile on your face, and opens up as many questions as it answers.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n (Image: GordonTerris\/Herald&Times)\n<\/p>\n
\n The biggest question, of course, being whether Madeleine was guilty or innocent, agree Tom and Jen.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be surprised if she\u2019d tried it, and I\u2019m not sure I\u2019d judge her harshly if she had,\u201d says Jen, slowly.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt has been really fascinating to work on this story and I hope audiences enjoy it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n The Glasgow Poisoner is at \u00d2ran M\u00f3r from September 22 to 27, then at Paisley<\/a> Town Hall, from October 8 to 10, and the Gaiety in Ayr<\/a> from October 15 to 17.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wealthy Victorian socialite Madeleine Smith, who was just 22, received a not proven verdict for the Blythswood Square…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7826],"tags":[748,918,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-434036","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-glasgow","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-glasgow","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-scotland","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115226325963917568","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}