Known as the Yorkshire Witch, Bateman is the subject of a new play, Mutton, from Leeds theatre company Brave Words, which tours to venues around the region this month. Relatively little is known about who Bateman was, why she committed the crimes she did and how she eventually became a murderer, and the play aims to answer some of those questions.
There are two main sources for information about her – one an anonymously penned work The Extraordinary Life and Character of Mary Bateman published in 1811 soon after her trial and death and another much more recent book, which Singleton found “really useful”, author Summer Strevens’ 2018 publication The Yorkshire Witch: The Life and Trial of Mary Bateman. Having gathered the information together, Singleton then approached director Rachael Halliwell to help develop the material.