Interview: Caroline Dunford, writer, Burke, GRV, Guthrie Street

And so sets the premise for Burke, the very latest theatre dramatisation of the infamous body-snatcher. But wait. Isn't it odd Burke should premiere at the same time John Landis' Burke & Hare runs in our cinemas? A coincidence? Or a clever attempt to capitalise on the publicity of its Hollywood namesake?

"I suppose they (the producers] thought it would be a good time to put it out," says writer Caroline Dunford. "But Stuart Nicoll, the director, had wanted to do it for a few years, so it's good timing really."

Unlike the current, more widely recognised version of Burke & Hare, Burke is anything but a black comedy. Drawing on accounts of his two-day trial, the focus of this haunting psychological drama into Burke's murderous mind, Dunford maintains, is to challenge the common perception about the man himself.

"Like most people, all I knew was that he killed a lot of people for money. However, I think he was very manipulated, a man who did have a terrible conscience," says Dunford.

"In a way, that's worse, because he understood what he did was wrong. At the time of his trial, he was the equivalent of a major celebrity. He was extremely religious and had lots of children that who, which, I'm sure, must have changed his attitude towards life.

"What I wanted to discover was who was really responsible? During the case, they got Hare to testify because they didn't have enough evidence against Burke - they believed he was the mastermind. But the way I've presented it to the audience is for them to make up their own minds. Burke and Hare weren't just two-dimensional monsters, they had a hard life."

So what else is there about Burke we might not already know about? "For one thing, he had testicular cancer," reveals Dunford, an established crime writer and former psychotherapist.

"He was in terrible pain most of the time and dealt with the pain by drinking. He was charismatic, too, and that's how he drew so many people in.

"Another thing, he would spend his money on arranging parties for local kids. In fact, there was only two murders he really regretted: a kid, who was deaf and mute, and the child's protector. He hadn't thought it through.

"After killing the kid's guardian, he realised the kid wouldn't be able to look after himself, so killed him, too."

Written by Dunford, produced by cutting-edge group, Siege Perilous, and directed by West Port Productions' Stuart Nicoll (the man behind the popular Burke & Hare Murder Tour) - it's clear the creative team behind Burke have the right pedigree.

It's just a pity John Landis, who called Nicoll's Tour 'inspired', and whose own movie based on the notorious grave-robbers has been panned by reviewers worldwide, didn't hand over the production reins to Team Burke. One wonders, then, how Dunford would have tackled the movie?

"The same way as I've done with the play - try to get inside the minds of these people.

"I haven't seen the new movie myself - I deliberately avoided it. And while the film is generally a comedy, if they (Burke & Hare) were just villains they would be pretty dull. At the end of the day, though, their story is a tragedy rather than a comedy."

Burke, GRV, Guthrie Street, Tuesday-Saturday, 8pm, 8 (6) 0131-554 3005