Jack the Ripper

The company had gathered together a terrific cast for this production, all of whom seemed perfectly at ease with Director Eve-Marie Downey’s completely off the wall take on this gory tale which is of course, based on fact. The main part of the set was elevated at the back of the performing space and divided into two.  One half being the police station, the other a room in a house where we witnessed comings and goings including those of the Butler and Maid.

This could have been stomach churning stuff, but the script allowed for plenty of humour, even when witnessing the gruesome murders. These were mostly silhouetted on a white bi-fold screen, downstage left, with nothing much left to the imagination. 

Amanda Green, as The Cleaning Woman, opened the proceedings.  She also played The Girls; women who had apparently answered an advert leading them to an address where they met their dismal demise.  Well done to Amanda on playing these roles with such conviction.

Linda Helm-Manley gave a wonderfully expressive performance as The Witch with Isaac Wood as her Familiar. Isaac had the audience in fits of laughter as this rather gormless character, taught to read by the Witch, with the aid of a cookbook. This had resulted in his vocabulary being limited to culinary terms. Trying to express himself wearing an apron and waving a wooden spoon around was absolutely hilarious.  

The production was very well costumed with the Steam Punk theme echoed by most of the characters to great effect. Mark Ratcliff, sporting what appeared to be motorbike leathers, was The Butler, and he and Ginny Ellison-Madden as The Maid were a good pairing.  Chris Redman as The Duke looked suitably scary in a long black leather coat, while Jack Downey as The Commissioner, really made the role his own with his familiar exaggerated gestures used to great comical effect.

There were other good performances from Douglas Sheppard as The Doctor, Steve Foster as The Policeman and Lynn Guyton as The Suffragette. Helen Rees was The Innocent and Jess Foster, Esmerelda.  All were obviously enjoying being in this whacky production.

Credit must also be given to Steve Perry as the Plague Doctor, complete with stick.  He was, I am reliably told, miming to dialogue spoken by cast and crew, pre-recorded and layered on top of each other.  I confess to not knowing how this is done but the outcome was extremely effective. Steve was also the voice of Jack the Ripper.  So, very well done to this uncredited hero, intentionally omitted from the programme credits, lest it spoil the reveal.

Lighting and sound were good.

It’s good to see societies putting on productions which they may once have considered to be out of their comfort zone. I therefore applaud Heath Players for embracing Eve-Marie Downey’s cleverly adapted version of this grim tale.  The audience, at this matinee performance, were obviously enjoying every minute.

Congratulations to all involved and thank you for inviting me.

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