Amanda Knox has defended her sold-out Edinburgh Festival Fringe comedy show Cartwheel after calls for it to be cancelled over claims it could trivialise violence against women. The show, which she will perform at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe over 11 days in the Gilded Balloon Teviot, focuses on motherhood and how she will explain what happened in Perugia to her daughter.
Knox, who was convicted and later acquitted of murdering British student Meredith Kercher in Italy in 2007, said the material is about “how the world is unsafe and unfair towards women” and the experience of raising a daughter in that context. Stephanie Kercher, Meredith’s sister, has said she fears the show will “normalise and trivialise” violence against women, and Meredith in particular.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Stephanie Kercher said:
“What I would say [to Knox] is to think about the family here, think about her friends and to turn the tables if it was your sister that this had happened to, because I know you have a sister as well.”
Responding to the criticism, Knox said:
“The interesting irony of that is that my daughter is a huge motivation for me doing this show.
“It's about how the world is unsafe and unfair towards women and what it means to raise a daughter in that world, knowing how bad it can be.
“If they [Kercher's family] saw my show, they would recognise that.”
A petition against the show, set up by a friend of Meredith, has been signed by nearly 5,000 people. It says the show disrespects her memory and risks making light of such a harrowing event.
Stephanie Kercher also said she did not believe Meredith would find these topics of any comedic value. She said:
“Our family's pain is immense. I can't explain to you how much pain our family have been through, and also we're talking two decades later now, this pain.
“I think that if it was a generic theme, as many comedy shows are, even when they're pushing the boundaries, it would be different.
“Because this is associated with an individual case and individual person, I think that's where the worry lies here for me, because who else is this going to then open up this opportunity for?”
But Knox told BBC Scotland News she does not downplay the seriousness of the case and is respectful in her approach. She said:
“I hope people will honestly engage in my work and recognise the deep heart and sensitivity that I bring to it as I tell a very personal story,”
Its title Cartwheel references a story that once claimed Knox did cartwheels in the police station after her British roommate's death. Knox said the cartwheel becomes a metaphor throughout the show, explaining that it is about acknowledging that bad things happen in life which will turn you upside down.
She said:
“It is about acknowledging that bad things happen in life which will turn you upside down.”
“But it's also about not letting that arrest your momentum because the only way you can land on your feet is through those difficult experiences.”
Knox added she would love to have an open and honest conversation with Kercher's family but claimed she has never had the opportunity. She said:
“It would be incredible for them to see me for who I really am instead of the idea that was delivered to them by people in bad hands,”
Since Meredith Kercher's death, Knox has written two books about her imprisonment and served as an executive producer on the biographical drama The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox. Now 39, she is married with two children and lives in Washington state.
Knox, from Seattle, and Kercher, from Surrey, were both exchange students sharing a house in the university town of Perugia. Alongside her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, Knox was arrested on suspicion of murdering Kercher, 21, who was found dead in their house. Her throat had been cut and she had been sexually assaulted.
Knox was found guilty and spent four years in an Italian prison before she and Sollecito were acquitted through an appeal. She returned home to the US in 2011.
A retrial in 2014 reinstated Knox and Sollecito's convictions but Italy's top appeals court finally overturned them in 2015. Ivory Coast-born Rudy Guede served 13 years of a 16-year sentence for Kercher's murder after his fingerprints were found at the scene. The court ruled he did not act alone but after Knox and Sollecito were acquitted, no other accomplices were convicted.
Key Facts
- Amanda Knox's sold-out Fringe show Cartwheel will run for 11 days at the Gilded Balloon Teviot.
- The show addresses motherhood and how Knox plans to explain the Perugia case to her daughter.
- Stephanie Kercher has criticised the show, and a petition against it has nearly 5,000 signatures.
- Knox was convicted and later acquitted of murdering Meredith Kercher, who was killed in Perugia in 2007.
- Rudy Guede served 13 years of a 16-year sentence for Kercher's murder.
