Huntingdon Drama Club’s production of The Thrill of Love - based on the story of Ruth Ellis - opens in March.

The theatre group have taken the story of Ellis - the last woman to be hanged in the UK - and are inviting audiences to make up their own minds about what happened on that fateful night in 1955.

Ellis, a model and nightclub hostess, was convicted of the murder of her playboy lover, David Blakely, outside The Magdala pub, in Hampstead, and sentenced to death. The 28-year-old divorcee was hanged at Holloway Prison, by Albert Pierepoint, in July of the same year.

Ellis, the mother of a 10-year-old son and a daughter, aged three, had a chaotic personal life and The Thrill of Love, written by Amanda Whittington, takes a fresh look at the woman behind the headlines.

Huntingdon Drama Club’s adaptation of this gripping drama, seeks to further explore some of unanswered questions about the criminal case and invites the audience to make up its own mind about whether the verdict and sentence were fair.

“The play is essentially about trying to unravel the truth,” explained director Sandra Birnie

“We will present the facts, and the evidence of the trial will be verbatim, but there are lots of unanswered questions and we want the audience to make up their own minds.

It is well known that Ellis, who will be played by Louise West, worked in the kind of nightclubs where there was more than just a drink on offer and the clientele were usually high profile and wealthy. Ellis had an on-off relationship with Blakely, but he was engaged to another woman and was abusive towards her, but it is not clear what went wrong or why Ellis decided to kill him and then offer no defence at her trial.

INFO: The Trill of Love runs from March 21-24 and will be staged at All Saints Church, in Huntingdon.

Tickets are on sale now, priced at £8/£10, and available online: www.huntingdondramaclub.org.uk.