Research by Dr Jacob Fredrickson inspires Old Bailey theatre production
Tue 24 February 2026
Work by Edinburgh Law School’s Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dr Jacob Fredrickson has helped inform a theatrical production staging at the historic Old Bailey this March.
Justice? Trial and Error will transform Court No 1 in the Old Bailey into a live performance space from 15–19 March 2026, drawing on research originally developed in Dr Fredrickson’s doctoral thesis and due to appear in his upcoming monograph.
The production brings together performers from the Bench, the Bar, the City and the arts, blending legal insight with dramatic storytelling to explore themes of justice, error and the human experience within the criminal process.
Since its creation in 2014, Trial and Error has seen judges and barristers take to the stage in a satirical revue made up of vignettes and songs about trials, many of which took place at the Old Bailey over the last four centuries.
This year’s staging will include a piece concerning the 1922 trial of Maude Hibbert, tried for the murder of her lover George after they both attempted to die by suicide. This piece draws on Dr Fredrickson’s research on the criminalisation of agreements to die by suicide (more commonly known as ‘suicide pacts’) in English law. Prior to the 1957 Homicide Act, a survivor of these agreements was treated as culpable for the murder of the other, leading to often highly sensationalised – and controversial – criminal trials, such as Maude Hibbert’s.
Dr Fredrickson said: "It has been a great pleasure to see how my research has inspired others to look again at the history of suicide agreements in English criminal courts. The trial of Maude Hibbert outraged many at the time, and hardened public opinion against what was seen as the inhumanity of many aspects of English criminal law. It was a dramatic case, and one perfectly suited for a performance such as Trial & Error, which raises money for such a fantastic array of charities."
Each year the production raise money for good causes, this year’s chosen organisations are; Sheriffs’ & Recorder’s Fund which raises much needed funds for the rehabilitation of prison-leavers, the MamaSuze Community Interest Company which uses the creative arts to support women survivors of displacement and abuse, and the Schools Consent Project which provides legal education about the meaning of consent to workshops of 6th formers.
His Honour Judge Peter Rook KC said: “As a judge at the Old Bailey I was ever conscious of the dramatic possibilities of its history over the last 400 years. When offered, I seized the opportunity to stage vignettes and songs based on cases some of which took place in the very court in which they are performed. Each year we have a different theme and fresh material. This year Justice?, Trial & Error looks at miscarriages of justice and cases that that ended in unjust results. Research by a friend into former occupants of his Sussex house led him to discover that one had been the doctor who attended on Maude Hibbert. This led us to contemporary press cuttings and the phenomenon of the rise in suicide agreements in the 1920’s which in turn took us to Dr Fredrickson’s fascinating and important research.”
Tickets and further details are available through the production’s event page.