Queens Theatre, Hornchurch – until 11th November 2023
Reviewed by Bobbi Fenton
4****
Whitechapel. A dark alley. A late night. A mysterious stranger. And a violent murder. Sound familiar? You’re probably thinking along the right lines. Jack the Ripper, infamous Victorian serial killer, possibly the world’s first serial killer, who tormented London in 1888. But I bet you didn’t think of Mary ‘Polly’ Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, or Mary-Jane Kelly.
When Jules’ (Caitlin Scott) best friend Maz (Hanna Khogali) is murdered in Whitechapel by a mysterious stranger, and her death is described by police as a ‘drunken accident’, Five women, named Polly (Gemma Salter), Annie (Rebecca Wheatley), Liz (Jessica Johnson), Kate (Anne Odeke) and Mary Jane (Hanna Khogali) join her side to fight for justice, not only for Maz, but for the five victims of Jack the Ripper. In this play, we watch as together they fight for their reputations, and for a change in the way we talk about and remember women who are victims of violence. They also fight with tour guide and ‘ripperologist’ Christopher (Charlie Buckland) about the way he portrays the women on his tour.
All too often, Jack the Ripper is described as a ‘legend’, obsessed over by so-called ‘fans’ of the story. The stories of the five victims are twisted and exploited by the people who profit from their stories. In this play the five women tell their stories through well-written and beautifully performed songs. We learn about details that are often forgotten, like Annie’s struggles with alcohol and Liz’s struggles with her family. The songs all share one key message though, that they are all more than their post-mortem photo’s, more than their murders. They are, and were, people. Possibly one of the biggest key messages of this play is how not much has changed since the Jack the Ripper murders. Much like the five victims were all incorrectly labelled as prostitutes simply because they had been sleeping on the streets, Maz is described as drunk when the murder happened. And in both cases, these descriptions are used almost as a justification for their murders, as though they somehow ‘deserved’ it.
The women come together to protest this, demanding that there is a change in how the stories are told, for all women, even sporting signs with slogans that have been used in real life feminist protests, and decide that men should change their behaviour, not women. I really liked the decision to have Hanna Khogali multi-role as Maz as well as Mary Jane, as paired with the connections to three of the original five victims’ funerals, really communicated how similar Maz’s story is to the victims of Jack the Ripper.
Killing Jack is a wonderful play, filled with hilarious one-liners and a lot of raw emotion. I especially liked Kate’s reaction to a cup of tea, made with a tea bag. The play reminded me of Six the Musical, in that both are about a group of women whose stories have been overshadowed throughout history by the less interesting man that links them all together. I, for one, think this is a wonderful way of telling or re-telling stories of women throughout history that have been forgotten or overlooked despite living interesting, important, and relevant lives. In my opinion, there should be a lot more shows like this.