Audience members who saw Amanda Knox’s controversial comedy show at Edinburgh Fringe on opening night say that it is both “respectful” and “genuinely funny”.
Knox, who was falsely imprisoned in 2009 for the murder of her roommate Meredith Kercher, performed her new show Cartwheel on Friday night following unsuccessful calls for it to be pulled from the line-up.
Kercher, an exchange student from the University of Leeds, was killed aged 21 in Perugia, Italy in 2007.
Knox was convicted in 2009, along with her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, of Kercher’s murder and sexual assault.
She was released from prison in 2011 and cleared by Italy’s Supreme Court in 2015.
The show’s title refers to a story that the now-39-year-old did cartwheels in the police station following Kercher’s death.
Kercher’s sister Stephanie Kercher earlier called for Cartwheel to be cancelled, claiming that it “normalises and trivialises violence against women”.
More than 6,000 people signed a petition demanding it be pulled from the Fringe line-up.
However, people leaving the show on Friday night said it was both “powerful” and “respectful”.
One audience member said: “I think that [Knox] has every right to tell her story and to deal with her own grief and pain and what’s been taken from her in her own way.
“She was profoundly respectful to the victim of the crime. She said that she never got the chance to express her own grief about what had happened, because as soon as the crime had happened, she was put in this position of having to defend herself. So I think that was important for her.”
The man said Knox was also “genuinely funny”.
Audience member Nigel, from London, also found it to be respectful.
“I thought it was really authentic – [Knox] came across as quite powerful and carried the room,” he said.
“There was a lot of clapping and standing at the end, and a lot of laughter all the way through.”
Nigel added: “I thought it was an opportunity for her to tell her story in a very different environment.”
He also said that Knox refers to Kercher in the show as someone who she had known as a friend.
A man from Glasgow, who did not wish to be named, said the show is more about storytelling than it is about comedy.
“I was a wee bit hesitant about going along because I knew that there was controversy, and I understand Meredith Kercher’s family being concerned – I’ve got total sympathy for that – but having seen the show, there’s nothing in that show that is, you know, like offensive or demeaning to Kercher,” the man said.
“It’s trailed as a stand-up comedy, but it’s not a stand-up comedy show. There’s elements of humour in it, but it’s more about her story.”
A woman, from Edinburgh, who also did not want to be named, said the show is emotional, and nearly moved her to tears.
“The one very moving part was where she talks about her friend, her flatmate, Meredith, and that almost brought tears to my eyes,” she said.
“It was a very small part of the show, but it was basically the guilt that she actually feels about being here.”
Overall, the woman said the show was more about being a mother than it was about Kercher’s murder.
In a statement posted on Instagram, Knox said: “Cartwheel is a show about motherhood, raising a daughter in a world that is unfair and dangerous for women, and what it costs to be the kind of mother who tells her the truth about that.
“Neither the author of this petition nor anyone who signed it has seen Cartwheel.
“The petition contains many false assumptions and completely mischaracterises the show.
“Cartwheel honours Meredith Kercher’s memory and calls out the violence that was done to her and to me.
“A petition to cancel a show no one has seen on the grounds of false accusations intended to shame and vilify a wronged woman into silence is not an argument against Cartwheel.
“It’s a fairly precise description of what Cartwheel is about and why it deserves to exist.
“And the Edinburgh Fringe is the perfect place for a show like this.”
