Amanda Knox's decision to stage a one-woman comedy show at the Edinburgh Fringe has reignited pain for the family of Meredith Kercher, the British student murdered in Italy in 2007.
The production, titled "Cartwheel," is described by Knox as "70 percent comedy, 30 percent rage." However, the Kercher family and their lawyer, Francesco Maresca, have labeled the show a "deplorable offense to Meredith's memory." Meredith's sister, Stephanie Kercher, expressed despair that Knox appears unable to grasp the ongoing suffering such public retellings inflict, stating, "Imagine 20 years after Meredith's death, your pain is turned into someone else's laughter."
Knox, who was Knox's former roommate and was controversially convicted and acquitted multiple times for Kercher's murder, has defended the show, suggesting Meredith would have found it humorous. "Meredith was really sophisticated and smart but she was also fun... I think that she would appreciate the show, because it grapples with what it means to be a young woman, and it's honest," Knox stated in an interview. Stephanie Kercher strongly refuted this, responding, "She absolutely would not find comedy surrounding these issues funny," adding that she "could not fathom how rape and murder can be laughed about."
The case dates back to November 1, 2007, when Meredith Kercher, a 21-year-old British exchange student, was found raped and murdered in the Perugia apartment she shared with Knox and two other women. Knox, then an American student, quickly became the focus of international media attention, earning the nickname "Foxy Knoxy." Her initial response to the death, which she has since attributed to the trauma and confusion of the situation, including claims of performing yoga stretches mistaken for cartwheels at the police station, fueled public speculation.
Forensic evidence eventually led to the conviction of Rudy Guede, an Ivory Coast-born drifter, for Meredith's murder. Knox and her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were arrested, convicted, acquitted, and reconvicted before Italy's highest court finally cleared them in 2015, ruling there was no evidence of their participation in the murder. Knox does hold a conviction for slander for falsely accusing a man, Patrick Lumumba, of the murder.
Since her return to the United States, Knox has remained a public figure, penning two memoirs, "Waiting To Be Heard" and "Free: My Search For Meaning," and cooperating with documentaries and television series about her case, including a Hulu mini-series in 2025. She has also hosted podcasts and become a speaker for the Innocence Network, focusing on wrongful convictions.
Knox, now a mother of two, initially stated her desire to move beyond the events that made her infamous, citing financial necessity as a reason for continuing to engage with her story. "What I keep telling Chris is that I want to get to a place where I don't have to keep living the worst experience of my life so that we can pay the mortgage," she said in 2021.
The "Cartwheel" show debuted on Vashon Island, Washington, near where Knox and her husband, Christopher Robinson, live with their children. The production then moved to the Edinburgh Fringe. Promotional material described it as a "solo comedy and storytelling performance" by a woman "juggling motherhood" and "finally getting around to being furious" about her wrongful imprisonment.
Despite the controversy, audience members at early showings, including one in Tacoma, Washington, reportedly responded positively, with some describing the performance as "enraptured" and receiving standing ovations. Seattle theater critic Greg Heilman suggested the show could have a future as a "Netflix hour-long special."
However, for the Kercher family, who have endured the loss of both parents in 2020, Knox's continued public engagement with the case is a source of profound distress. Family friend Sally Alington launched a petition calling for the Edinburgh venue to cancel the show, which garnered over 9,000 signatures. The petition asserts that the show "disrespects Meredith's memory and risks normalising violence by making light of such a harrowing event."
Knox responded to the petition on Instagram, stating it contained "many false assumptions and completely mischaracterises the show" and that "Cartwheel honours Meredith Kercher's memory and calls out the violence that was done to her and to me." Alington countered this by saying, "She says she's doing it in Meredith's honour. But she never asked."