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Kris Law
Detective Sergeant
Username: Kris
Post Number: 76
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Friday, January 16, 2004 - 9:24 am: |       |
Hello all,
there is a play opening here in Toronto at the end of January which was written by a descendent of M. J. Druitt
Here is the press release:
DEAR BOSS pr - A Masterpiece of the Macabre with 30 derangedpuppets!
Pasted and attached, please find press release for world premiere of DEAR BOSS - a darkly funny fantastical murder mystery and romantic horror story from the author of Grendelmaus and creator of the legendary Sideshow of the Damned featuring 30 deranged puppets!
Dear Boss is a dramatic exploration of the culture of madness and paranoia that seized Whitechapel in the autumn of 1888 during the Ripper murders and continues today in media reportage. Eldritch Theatre uses the Uncanny as artists used it prior to the twentieth century: as a technique to portray the irrational, repressed, and shadowed aspects of individuals.
*********
ELDRITCH THEATRE and ALIANAK THEATRE PRODUCTIONS
Present the World Premiere of
Dear Boss
A Masterpiece of the Macabre with 30 Deranged Puppets!
written by Eric Woolfe, directed by Michael Waller
Eldritch Theatre and Alianak Theatre Productions are proud to present the world premiere of Dear Boss, an outlandish chronicle of the Jack the Ripper Murders of 1888, performed by three actors and a rabble of 30 multi-sized puppets from the Dora-nominated author of Grendelmaus and creator of the legendary Sideshow of the Damned, Eric Woolfe. This darkly funny fantastical murder mystery and romantic horror story previews from January 21, opens Friday January 23 and runs to February 8 at Artword Theatre, 75 Portland Street.
Dear Boss is a dramatic exploration of the culture of madness and paranoia that seized Whitechapel in the autumn of 1888. Dear Boss tells of an imagined investigation of the Ripper murders by the American chronicler of the Unexplained, Charles Fort, and his assistant, The Elephant Man; and of the failing relationship of Mary Kelly, the final Ripper victim, and her lover, an unemployed fish porter named Joseph Barnett. It uses facts and speculation about these prototypical serial killings to explore the still modern problems of racial profiling, fear of social terrorism, and the tendency of news media to fuel the very violence on which it is reporting by treating the criminal as a popular icon.
Carefully built on a skeleton of historical research, Fort's dark journey brings Joseph Merrick, Lewis Carrol, Sir William Gull, Helena Blavatsky, and an endless procession of Ripper suspects together under the same fish-spattered umbrella. While the play frequently departs from factual veracity, it rarely strays from historical plausibility, except when intentionally introducing elements of the Uncanny and Fantastic. Eldritch Theatre's aim is to use the Uncanny as artists, playwrights and novelists used it until the twentieth century: as a technique to portray the irrational, repressed, and shadowed aspects of individuals.
Woolfe began writing Dear Boss during the Washington Sniper murders. The sensationalistic media coverage of these attacks, complete with racial speculations about the killer, fear mongering editorials, and wild proclamations about the imagined mad genius behind the killings struck him as very similar to the coverage of the Whitechapel slayings of 1888. It astonished Woolfe "how little this sort of reporting has changed in the hundred fifteen years since the furor around Jack the Ripper brought serial killing to the public consciousness, and this observation was a strong entry point into a play about the Whitechapel killings, which was a project that I had been researching for two or three years, as the result of learning that my great, great uncle, Montague Druitt, had been unjustly named a suspect in a dubious piece of correspondence known to Ripperologists as the McNaughton Memorandum.
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David Norman
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Monday, January 26, 2004 - 11:51 am: | |
I had the good fortune to see "Dear Boss" over the weekend. If you are interested at all in Jack the Ripper ( and youmust be if you're reading this!) I HIGHLY recommend seeing this show!
Eric Woolfe's weaving together of the various elements of Ripper lore is brilliant. I won't give away the ending....but he does put forth his own theory as to who Jack might have been. The fantastical elements to the show only help to draw the audience deeper into the world and the mystery...and, amazingly, there is also a nice amount of comedy in this show - without being ridiculous, or over the top! The actors are all wonderfully versatile and the puppets are GREAT! ( NOT a show for kids by the way!)
I am curious to hear what other people have to say about this show. I look forward to other postings...
FYI - the show is at a theatre called the Artword Theatre in Toronto..and it runs until Feb.8th, 2004 |
Triple Cap
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Monday, January 26, 2004 - 12:34 pm: | |
I was most fortunate to have seen the opening of Dear Boss at the Artword Theatre in Toronto on January 23/04. This is what good theatre is all about: stage magic with the simplest of props, unforgettable puppets, exquisite casting, excellent costume design, clever direction and unbelievable skill from the cast of three, who collectively play thirty roles - often playing two characters at once!
Writer and producer Eric Wolfe is an intelligent, open-hearted, and twistedly funny artist. His previous shows have always been fascinating to watch, and I found this to be his most compelling yet. Calgary actor Rebecca Northan gives a tour de force performance as the female lead. She is breathtaking to watch - whether in comic or dramatic scenes and her stage presence is most compelling. Eric Wolfe - especially as Joseph Merrick (The Elephant Man) and Darren Keay as the young American are also perfectly cast. The versatility of this company is extraordinary. Director Michael Waller has created a beautiful piece of theatre. Go and see this fascinating show while you can! And be prepared to be moved, frightened and highly entertained. |
Jim Taylor
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 28, 2004 - 1:41 pm: | |
I also saw Dear Boss, and have not much to add to what has already been said. This is an excellent play. Well written, wonderfully staged, and brilliantly acted. After reading the press release (see above), I can honestly say that Mr. Wolfe has been quite successful in getting his message across in this production. Congratulations to the cast and crew! If you take an interest in Saucy Jack and the historical period that surrounds him, this play is a very rich pageant. |
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