Overview
A comical but scary treatment of the serial killer who terrorized London in the 1800's. Many of the characters and events are taken right from history, but others are pure comic invention, such as Pegeen Macdougal, a practitioner of white magic, and her "familiar," Hogarth, who speaks only in cookbook terms.
All of the roles are amusingly drawn, from the frustrated physician, Dr. Forbes Winslow, already henpecked by his fiance, suffragette Ernestine Pankhurst, to manservant Phillip Poole, who is bound and determined to solve the murders in the style of his hero, Sherlock Holmes. There are several murders, but these are given a wickedly humorous touch by the victims themselves!
The story, briefly: Jack's reign of terror has begun, and Sir Charles Warren, a totally inept British Lord, has been appointed Commissioner of Police to apprehend him. The author has selected a theory (which some actually believed at the time) that the murders had an occult connection. Jack, it seems, practices black magic, which requires murderous sacrifices to assure him additional years of life. Four women are murdered, and the play revolves around the attempts to save the fifth Angela Ellison, a reformed girl of the streets, who is the last required to complete Jack's evil ritual.
Jack's identity is not revealed until the end, and the author has provided three alternate endings, each with a different character exposed as Jack. So, should the director have a fiendish streak, the ending could be selected by pulling straws to keep everyone - including the cast - guessing until the final scene.