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A scene from A Cry Too Far From Heaven. - Source: ONE News -
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Two stories - one about a notorious female criminal and the other about a New Zealand soldier shot as a deserter - are set to be retold on the world stage.
Southland murderer Minnie Dean and World War I soldier Victor Spencer are the focus of a new play that will feature at next month's Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Dean is the only woman ever to be hanged in New Zealand and her crime earned her the nickname the Winton Witch. But now, the convicted baby-killer is getting another trial.
Co-director Lizzie Dawson said the film does not investigate whether Dean and Spencer are innocent or guilty. "We just want to tell their stories."
Based on diary entries and original material, A Cry Too Far From Heaven portrays the final hours of Dean and Bluff-born army deserter Spencer.
Despite suffering shellshock, Spencer was shown no mercy and shot in 1918.
Co-director Jade Gillies said the project had been emotionally draining.
"We've got a box of tissues backstage that are well used."
They have also had input from the young digger's family.
Second cousin Spencer Morrison said he had been told very little about his relative "because it was classified as a shame until such time as the pardon was made".
The pardon finally came in 2006 when the family received Spencer's military medals.
And Dean's Winton grave lay unmarked for 113 years before relatives installed a headstone in 2009.
The play has been well received in Southland, but the real litmus test will come when it is performed in Dean's native Scotland with members of her own family among the audience.
"I hope they feel ok about what we've done. I think they will," Dawson said.