A controversial Edinburgh Fringe performance will depict the moment Ghislaine Maxwell sat in her jail cell awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges related to her former boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein.
Croatian-American performer Kristin Winters said her one-woman show will frame the 60-year-old as “trapped in a prison of psychological abuse” by the disgraced paedophile financier.
Maxwell, who has been behind bars since her arrest in July 2020, was convicted in December of grooming and trafficking underage girls.
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She pleaded not guilty to all charges, arguing that she was a scapegoat for Epstein, who was found dead in August 2019 in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial.
Kristin, from London, will be comparing Maxwell to Hedda Gabler, the fictional protagonist of Henrik Ibsen's 19th century play of the same name, in the production.
The playwright told the Daily Record the "monstrous" tale still keeps her awake at night.
Kristin said: "I was really intrigued by this woman (Gabler) who was so wrapped up in her own head, and in her privilege and entitlement.
"She was charismatic and appealing, and something magnetic and mysterious about her.
"I wanted to explore what a woman like that would do if she had lost everything.
"If you take the human out of it, are you just left with a monster, or someone sad and miserable.
"At the same time, I became very intrigued by the Ghislaine Maxwell story.
"All of the similarities between these two women kept jumping out at me.
"They were so privileged that had these dominant and domineering figures that are shadows from their childhoods, they seem driven by masculine qualities but also use their femininity to their advantage, to manipulate and control.
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"The piece really grew into a merging of the two women, to put them into a conversation and comparison with one another.
"It centres a lot more around Ghislaine Maxwell now.
"This story is so sickening it still keeps me awake at night.
"It is an uncomfortable topic.
"But I think the Fringe should be the perfect place in terms of what audiences are comfortable with and to ask how it is that someone makes the life choices that Ghislaine Maxwell has made.
"What she did was monstrous but I hope to question how that came about and what brought her to that place."
