Jack the Ripper, Jermyn Street
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
IF YOU’RE looking for something a little bit different this Christmas, Jermyn Street Theatre might just have the answer with the musical romp, Jack the Ripper, which runs from November 29 to December 22, 2005.
So, who is Jack the Ripper? A phantom, an aristocrat or a local lunatic escaped from Bedlam. As the fog thickens in the alleys of the East End, the ladies of the night huddle under the gaslight, ever watchful for the terror that lurks just around the corner…....who’s next?
Friendship, lust, corruption, a touch of Old Time Music Hall, plus a dash of cockney humour, all combine to bring the dark streets of Victorian London to life.
And it’s here that a host of colourful characters lurch forward from the shadows – the aforementioned ladies of the night, an educated beggar, a well meaning philanthropist, conniving scoundrels, a pompous Chief of Police, the great Queen Victoria and, just possibly, the Ripper himself…..
Jack the Ripper was written by Ron Pember (who is also responsible for the music) and Denis de Marne. It was originally performed in the West End in 1974 in what, until now, was also its last professional performance there.
Tim McArthur whose previous work includes the UK premiere of Seduction (Barons Court and New York), Silver Heaven and Love Sex and Retro-Feminity (Jermyn Street Theatre) directs. He is also a performer and presenter in his own right.
The cast comprises six women and six men and includes Clare Lomas and Alex Browne who played Yum Yum and Nanki Poo respectively in last year’s hit Hot Mikado, at Upstairs at the Gatehouse. In Jermyn Street’s intimate basement location, they will suggest one possible solution to this classic mystery.
Tickets: £10, £13 and £16
For further information call the Box Office on 020 7287 2875
And one last thing – by a strange coincidence, rehearsals began just two days before the 118th anniversary of the death of the last of the Ripper’s victims, Mary Jane Kelly…..