THE fascination with Bible John, it seems, will never fade. BBC Scotland has produced a documentary series on the killer who preyed on his victims at the Glasgow Barrowland in the late 1960s.
And a podcast by journalist Audrey Gillan, also broadcast by the BBC, has attracted vast listening figures.
Since the murders took place, more than six different books have investigated the case.
Our immediate world, it seems, won’t sleep until some understanding of the monster who committed atrocities can be known; we seek answers where we saw chaos. We need to have a sense that justice will prevail.
Except that in the case of the Bible John murders it hasn’t. Now, the story of the three women murdered by the man known as Bible John is to be played out on a Paisley stage.
Dancing With The Devil, by Paul Moore, is described as a “musical” but that’s something of a misnomer.
The writer explains: “It’s a musical drama, which I’m sort of hesitant to call it. I think the connotation of musical drama is something different – I suppose it’s a drama with music.”
Moore admits he has had to contend with the argument that to add music to the story of unimaginable horror – Bible John’s victims were raped and strangled – was distasteful.
But he contends that music can help with time placement and context. It can also be evocative.
And it’s important to understand that the three women murdered by Bible John, Patricia Docker, Jemima McDonald, and Helen Puttock went along to the Barrowland Ballroom hoping for a few hours’ release from the ordinariness of their lives, a short-term escape via pop sounds such as the Rolling Stones or Dusty Springfield or Marvin Gaye.
The joyful, upbeat music of the period certainly offers a counterpoint to the deadly events which occurred.
These young women could never have imagined that the encounter with the young man with the sharp haircut and sharp suit would bring about the end of their young lives.
And the play offers up an understanding of social attitudes of the time, the fashion, the music – and simply what it was like to be young.
Yet, while the murders took place more than 50 years ago, Scots can’t forget.
Paul Moore was a little boy at the time of the murders.
But he says he grew up with an understanding of the heinous crimes committed.
“I was two or three years old at the time, but later, going into primary school, the name was ingrained into my brain –
who is that man? Throughout my life I’ve gathered little snippets and stories from members of the public about John.”
He adds: “You only have to walk into a bar or a supermarket and chat to someone and it’s interesting that everyone knows about it, everyone’s got a story, and some claim they’ve met Bible John.”
There is no denying that the horror that is violence against women is still relevant, whether carried out in homes throughout the country or indeed by police officers themselves.
“There was a sense of danger, and there’s an awful lot that echoes today – and really hasn’t changed,” says Moore.
Dancing With The Devil, The Wynd Centre, Paisley, March 4
Isobel McArthur is back
Isobel McArthur has revealed herself to be a master of parody. Her stage play, Pride and Prejudice (sort of), took off Jane Austen’s classic in an unimaginable way, with five below-stairs maids dressed in Doc Martens and petticoats playing all the roles.
But it wasn’t parody, was it? “Parody” is considered to be a piece set in a genre which mocks that genre itself. McArthur’s delightful comedy was more of a homage, drawing out the skill of the original writing while having fun underlining and re-contextualising the social mores of the period.
Now, McArthur and co-writer Michael John McCarthy have tackled another classic, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped. And it’s set to be a hot ticket. This re-telling of the story sees Davie Balfour as the wide-eyed 19-year-old who has “never left home, never been kissed and never fired a gun”.
“Armed with nothing but a hand-drawn map, he heads off on an adventure ... quickly realising he has a lot of catching up to do. Along the way he has to contend with murderous foes, Jacobite outlaws and the most inept crew of pirates this side of the Atlantic.”
As expected, McArthur and McCarthy again clash time frames and sensibilities by fusing 20th-century pop music and 18th-century romance. The writers clearly see the comic value in re-considering concepts of justice and perverted politics. And the result is “a colourful coming-of-age story – shot-through with Stevenson’s trademark blend of poetry, humour and heart”.
But it’s not a parody.
Kidnapped opens in Greenock on March 29 before touring to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness and Perth
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