The Only Girl in the World - Arcola Theatre
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
THE ONLY Girl in the World by award-winning British poet and playwright Glyn Maxwell, will run for a limited season – from April 29 to May 24, 2008 – at the Arcola Theatre.
A verse play, The Only Girl in the World re-examines the last few days in the life of 25-year-old Irish immigrant Mary Jane Kelly, who was the final and youngest victim of Jack the Ripper. It focuses on her relationship with Joseph Barnett, her former lover who gave evidence at her inquest in 1888 and has been suspected of being Jack the Ripper.
Mary Kelly will be played by Jennifer Kidd whose recent stage credits include The Merchant of Venice and Holding Fire! (Shakespeare’s Globe) and The Changeling (Cheek by Jowl); and Joseph Barnett by John Wark whose work includes the title role in Jamie the Saxt (Finborough Theatre), as well as various roles for the RSC.
Speaking about The Only Girl in the World, Kidd said: “The beauty of Maxwell’s play is to allow Mary Kelly to shine through as a real woman, with enormous charisma and strength but whose circumstances changed sufficiently to lead to her earning a living through prostitution around Miller’s Court in Spitalfields by 1888.”
“Coming just after the conviction of Steve Wright for murdering five prostitutes in Ipswich and the controversy surrounding the London Dungeon’s plans to use former prostitutes to show visitors around its Jack the Ripper exhibition, it seems particularly important to tell this story – and to remember that no woman is ever ‘just’ a prostitute.”
The Only Girl in the World will be directed by Alex Clifton and produced by Chantelle Staynings, who was recently awarded the Stage One New Producer’s Bursary for the sell-out production of Nicholas de Jongh’s Plague over England at the Finborough Theatre. Her other credits include the current Jingo: A Farce of War at the Finborough Theatre and the Scottish premiere of Sondheim’s Passion.
The Only Girl in the World is designed by Paul Burgess, with lighting by Katharine Williams. Musician is Andrew Mathys.
Maxwell’s plays include The Black Remote (National Theatre); The Lifeblood (Riverside Studios, Edinburgh Festival 2004: British Theatre Guide ‘Best Play on the Fringe’); The Last Valentine (Almeida Theatre); Anyroad (Bridewell Theatre); Broken Journey (RSC Summer Festival, Young Vic Studio); and The Heart in Hiding (BAC).
His opera libretti include Ariadne (Almeida Opera/Aldeburgh Festivals) and The Birds (City of London Festival and UK Tour). And his awards include the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, E.M. Forster Prize, Somerset Maugham Prize, and shortlisting for the T.S. Eliot Prize, Whitbread Poetry Prize (1992, 1995) and Whitbread First Novel Prize (1994).
Tickets: £15, £10 concessions (except Saturdays); Tuesdays ‘Pay What You Can’ (subject to availability).
Time: 8:15pm.
Running Time: 1 hour 20 minutes.
For more information call the box office on 020 7503 1646 or visit the website.