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theatre · Friday 30 October 2026 · 8:00pm 
Burke and Hare: Body Snatchers, Serial Killers, Ulstermen
At Down Arts Centre · 2-6 Irish Street, Downpatrick, Co. Down, BT30 6BP
At Down Arts Centre · 2-6 Irish Street, Downpatrick, Co. Down, BT30 6BP
“Burke and Hare: Body Snatchers, Serial Killers, Ulstermen” plays Down Arts Centre in Downpatrick on Friday 30 October 2026, from 8pm to 10pm, just ahead of Halloween. The show is a solo history talk performed by Andrew Johnston of Alternative Ulstours, tracing the story of William Burke and William Hare, the Ulster-born pair whose Edinburgh murders in 1828 shocked Georgian Britain and left a lasting mark on the history of anatomy and grave robbing. It is billed as a sell-out production from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, brought to Down Arts Centre as a one-off touring date.
Although framed as a history talk rather than a scripted drama, the format is theatrical in delivery: a single performer holding a room for two hours with narrative storytelling, timed for the Halloween season and pitched squarely at an adult audience drawn to true crime and dark history. Down Arts Centre regularly programmes this kind of spoken-word and storytelling show alongside its music and am-dram bookings, and the late-October date makes it a natural pairing with the town’s other seasonal events. At £15 it is one of the more accessible tickets on the venue’s autumn programme.
Down Arts Centre is on Irish Street in the centre of Downpatrick, a short walk from the town’s main car parks and bus station, and about a 45-minute drive south of Belfast. Translink runs regular Goldliner services into Downpatrick from Belfast for anyone travelling without a car.
Alternative Ulstours built its reputation on exactly this kind of dark, well-researched local history, and the Burke and Hare case has an unusually direct Ulster connection through the pair’s origins, which the show leans into rather than treating as a footnote. It sits comfortably alongside Down Arts Centre’s other autumn bookings, including a folk tribute show and a traditional music concert, giving the venue a broad spread of genres across October.
Heading to Down Arts Centre in Downpatrick? Down has plenty more to see. Read the Downpatrick area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.