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** This is an archived, static copy of the Casebook messages boards dating from 1998 to 2003. These threads cannot be replied to here. If you want to participate in our current forums please go to https://forum.casebook.org **
Jack the Ripper (Pember)
Casebook Message Boards: Ripper Media: Specific Titles:
Drama / Theater:
Jack the Ripper (Pember)
Author: Robert Persson
Friday, 20 November 1998 - 11:31 am |        | I got my copy of the musical from a swedish amatuer theatre organisation called atr (Amatörteaterns riksförbund). The book and lyrics is written by Ron Pember and Denis de Marne, music by Ron Pember. Does anyone know anything about these men ? The original publisher seems to be Eric Glass, Ltd. The scandinavian publisher is Folmer Hansen Teaterförlag.
I´ve learned that the grand theatre in Gothenburg (Göteborgs stadsteater), Sweden, put up the play in 1987. I guess that the original production was put up in London or something like that.
"How long a piece is it ?" I don´t really know, but there seems to be music for a little more than an hour.
This is all I know at the moment.
I would like to know where it has been put up before and if it has been filmed or if there´s any soundtrack availible and stuff like that.
If anyone knows something new please let me know! |
Author: Dr. Frederick Walker
Friday, 20 November 1998 - 11:31 am | | Musicals that are also competent and creative plays are few and far between. This is one of them. The stage has 2 sets: a generic street scene that stands in for all the murder sites, and a Victorian music hall, where Ripper "entertainments" are being staged while the murders are still in progress. (This is not as far-fetched as it sounds. A play called Mary Kelly and Jack the Ripper, now lost, was staged months after the last murder. Comedians were probably telling grisly jokes and doing sick skits while bodies were yet turning up.) This play has faults: few crime scene facts, an eccentric canon -- Tabram and Coles are included -- and a too-obvious solution, as Druitt is the only male character who is not either a policeman or clearly innocent. But the strengths here far outweigh the failings. We have the real Whitechapel, filled with tarts, small-time operators, thick coppers and virtuous crusaders from good old Sally Ann. Figures like Warren and Queen Victoria are mocked gently by Victorians themselves, out of affection, we sense, rather than malice. There is no annoying "social satire," which usually means that the jaded 20th century author thinks he's far superior to those quaint, hypocritical 19th century types who believed that murder and prostitution were wrong, and could be stopped. The solution, if unadventurous, is at least credible. And the writing is universally strong. Even the songs are worthwhile:
She made her own bed,
Let her lie on it.
Why should we hang our heads down in shame?
It was just circumstance
Never gave her a chance
So why should we share any blame?
So let us not linger upon it
Let us all fill our glasses and sing
Let us all warm ourselves by the fire
Let us all close our ears to such things.
This is how you write a musical. 1st, you write a good play. You discreetly add dramatic, powerful songs that suit the tone of the play you've just written. Then you put it in a context where the characters have a reason to sing and dance. During the Autumn of Terror, they were whistling past the graveyard. |
Author: D Pember
Monday, 14 December 1998 - 01:58 pm | | | The musical was first performed in London at the Ambassadors Theatre (22 years ago) and ran there for around 12 months. It then moved to the Cambridge Theatre. There has never been a recording of the Soundtrack and has never been filmed. My dad has revisited the Play and it is soon to be put on at the Queens Theatre, Hornchurch, England and from there...who knows! |
Author: Paul Begg
Tuesday, 15 December 1998 - 03:16 am | | Hi
Do you have dates for the production? |
Author: D Pember
Tuesday, 29 December 1998 - 08:10 am | | | There are no firm dates planned yet but it is likely to be some time in the Autumn. I'll keep you posted. (Thanks for the interest!). |
Author: Bert Coules
Tuesday, 29 December 1998 - 01:46 pm | | | Excuse the interruption, but is your Dad Ron Pember the well-known actor? If so, I didn't realise that he wrote as well. |
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