From Hell: chilling tales return to Kings Head stage
Ripper victim a character in Dr Jekyll adaptation
Published: 28 May 2010
by JOSH LOEB
JACK the Ripper’s first victim is among the regulars in a mock-up of an East End drinking den that has been terrifying punters in an Islington pub theatre.
The Ten Bells pub – famous for having been the place where all five of the Ripper’s victims drank – is the set for an “aesthetically modern” adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic thriller The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
Mary Ann Nichols, believed to be the first person murdered by the notorious serial killer, is a character in the play, which opened this week at Upper Street’s King’s Head Theatre.
The chilling tale, directed by Islington-based writer Jonny Kemp, is well-known for being one of the first portrayals of split-personality disorder, with outwardly respectable Dr Jekyll transmogrifying into the hideous monster Mr Hyde.
In Mr Kemp’s version, a character tells drinkers in The Ten Bells, including Miss Nichols, about the “strange case”.
Mr Kemp, who lives in City Road, said he chose to meld the classic story with the Jack the Ripper theme because hysteria over the Ripper killings was sweeping London at the time Stevenson’s book first hit the stage in 1888.
“The lead actor was Richard Mansfield who was a bit of an old churl,” said Mr Kemp.
“On stage he transformed himself from a respectable Victorian gentleman to a hairy monster.
“It was clear because of the way the victims had been cut that the Ripper murders were committed by someone with a bit of medical knowledge who was obviously insane with possible multiple personality disorder. It was an easy link for people to make between that and Dr Jekyll.
“Someone wrote a letter to the police saying ‘You should see what’s going on on stage here’ and media pressure closed the show down.”
Mr Kemp added that Louis Stevenson’s story also resonated with the Victorian middle classes for another reason – “the duality between their private and public lives”. “There was this veneer of respectability,” he said.
“But there was one prostitute for every 12 men in London at the time and a lot of repressed desire.”
• The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is at The Kings Head Theatre, 115 Upper Street, N1 until June 6. 0844 209 0326.