In June, a screening of the play, filmed at the time by Brian Sherman, was held at the Robert Burns Film Theatre to mark the 25th anniversary of the production and also the 150th anniversary of Mary Timney’s execution. Featuring a strong ensemble cast of local actors and with a heart-rending performance by Julie Smith as Timney, it was viewed by a sell-out audience at this year’s Dumfries & Galloway Arts Festival. Now director, Julie Smith’s powerfully moving adaptation will be re-screened on Friday 5 September. This time, it will feature a guided crime and punishment-themed walk around the site of the old prison presented by the Mostly Ghostly Investigations team.
On a dour April morning in 1862, a young woman called Mary Timney was literally dragged to the gallows to suffer the last sentence of the law. Mary, from the Glenkens area, was 
found guilty of murdering a neighbour, Ann Hannah, following an argument which clearly got of hand. After a gut-wrenching build up and high drama on the day itself, Mary was hanged in front of a crowd of thousands at twenty three minutes past eight at the old Buccleuch Street Prison in Dumfries. These events would immortalise her as the last woman to be publicly executed in Scotland. Local playwright Tom Pow was inspired by Mary’s story and in 1989, BBC Scotland commissioned him to create a radio play to celebrate the station’s tenth anniversary. His play, The Execution of Mary Timney “gives an uncompromising portrait of how harsh and isolated life in a rural community could be, while also depicting attitudes to capital punishment at the time.” An adaptation of the play, directed by Julie Smith, became part of the 10th Anniversary celebrations of the Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival.
Find Out the full details at http://www.mostlyghostly.org/execution-mary-timney/
