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Doctor Thomas Neill Cream (Fennario)
Casebook Message Boards: Ripper Media: Specific Titles:
Drama / Theater:
Doctor Thomas Neill Cream (Fennario)
Author: Dr. Frederick Walker
Friday, 20 November 1998 - 11:29 am |        | This drama about the life and times of the Victorian serial killer who allegedly confessed to the Whitechapel murders has been called "ferociously funny" by the University of Toronto Quarterly, and has been praised for its "perceptive class-consciousness" by the Toronto Star. It has won numerous literary awards, and its author has recieved a grant from the Canada Council. As you've probably guessed by now, it's a left-wing diatribe, and a truly terrible play.
Cream is identified as Jack the Ripper and the Lambeth Poisoner. As well, unidentified female remains found near McGill University are attributed to his handiwork, and he is described as a major player in the Canadian Pacific Railway Scandal. The 3rd charge is unlikely, the 4th is ridiculous. But nothing is as ridiculous, or offensive, as the depiction of revered Canadian Prime Minister Sir Wilfred Laurier as Cream's active accomplice! (He leads women to Cream on the pretext of taking them to church!) The play also accuses Sir Hugh Allan, Sir William Dawson, Sir William Osler and Lord Strathcona. The author admits in an afterword that none of these men is really guilty, but as members of the ruling class (in other words, having been successful in politics or business) he feels free to accuse them of anything he likes. The story is told in a mixture of free verse, tableaux and dirty songs.
After 2 hours we have, not the merciful end, but the intermission, during which the audience is given a series of lectures about "the historical facts the play is based upon" by which the author means "the oppression and exploitation of the Native and Quebecois people by the Anglophone elite of Montreal and the Canadian Pacific Railway Scandal of 1872-73." I was expecting the crime scene facts, but I guess my consciousness is insufficiently revolutionary. After this, it's back to the auditorium, where the cast goes through the whole thing again, this time as improv in modern dress.
I hope the actors enjoy discussing these issues amongst themselves. They will be the only ones left in the theatre. |
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