Slashing drama is switched to stage

A miscarriage of justice that made a Staffordshire village a headline name is to be re-enacted in the play Arthur and George at the Birmingham Rep.

The play, running from March 19 to April 10, follows the case of George Edalji, a solicitor who, in 1903, was convicted of a series of macabre incidents including six horse slashings in Pit Meadow, Great Wyrley.

He was later cleared of the crimes after Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the Sherlock Holmes character, investigated.

The Edalji case was the only time he agreed to investigate. In 1907 Edalji was released and exonerated by a Home Office committee.

The new stage adaptation, based on Julian Barnes' semi-fictional novel about The Outrages, is written by Birmingham-born, and internationally acclaimed playwright, David Edgar.

Rachel Kavanaugh,Rep artistic director and director of Arthur and George, said: "The real George Edalji had his offices just around the corner from The Rep, and Birmingham's Central Library holds a fascinating archive of materials relating to the case, which some members of the team went over to study as part of their research."

Between February and June 1903 horses, sheep and cows were found killed or mutilated in Great Wyrley and surrounding areas and on August 18, 1903, a pony was found mutilated at the Great Wyrley Colliery Company. Police went to the vicarage, where blood and horse hair were found on George Edalji's clothes.

Conan Doyle found three witnesses who said there were no hairs on Edalji's coat when first examined. He said they transferred while being kept by police with hide from the animal.

Tickets cost £10-£32 on 0121 236 4455.