When I first saw The Ripper Files earlier this year I enjoyed the twists and turns that the lecture-style presentation of the cases of Jack the Ripper took, in discovering who the infamous serial killers identify was.

However, watching and reviewing for a second time I found that I concentrated more on the cleverly woven narrative which leads to the deadly conclusion. Knowing how it ends didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the performance.

The first act sets the scenes and imagery of life back in the late 1800’s. Descriptions of the journey the Ripper might have taken are told throughout the narrative by the newly demoted Metropolitan police Detective Inspector Charles William Lestrange (David Gilbrook) who has transferred to H Division in Whitechapel.

The accuracy of the streets and directions that the then police officers beat would have crossed paths with the victims many times. Which explains why they were sometimes still warm when they had been discovered.

The evenings kecture is set thirteen years later. Lestrange has asked Samuel Edwards (Mark Pearce) who had been Detective Constable Edwards of H Division and had been friends with Lestrange.

Along with Miss Elsie Fordham (Sarah Wynne Kordas) a lesser-known rising star of the music hall stage and has only agreed to take part in the evening’s lecture as Lestrange has promised that she can perform her latest song to the audience.

The murders carried out by the Ripper are at their height when Lestrange joins the Division and doesn’t hold back in his retelling of the details of how the Ripper mutilated the victims and the trophy body parts he took with him, never to be found again.

Rumpus Theatre Company doesn’t necessarily solve the mystery of the Ripper’s Identity but it certainly offers some “food for thought” as to who it might have been.

For more information about The Ripper Files and future productions at Theatre Royal Winchester please use the link below.

Four Stars

https://www.theatreroyalwinchester.co.uk/whats-on/ripper-files