By Garrett CURLEY
Just in time for Halloween, A Community Theatre is staging Jack the Ripper: Monster Of Whitechapel at the Carrefour Theatre. The fun of the play is that it presents the story of history’s most famous serial killer as a comedy.
Producer Adam Gauthier and director Richard Haines are the driving force behind the production.
“It’s a show that I had for a number of years, and Rich and I were talking and said we’d like to work together in a show again. So I said, ‘why don’t we do a show around Halloween?’” says Gauthier. Gauthier also acts in the show, taking on the role of Officer O’Connell.
The show’s plot revolves around a small group of Londoners who are trying to solve the murders, one of whom is ultimately revealed to be the murderer.
Each person has a different role to play. Phillip Poole (Joe MacDonald), an avid Sherlock Holmes fan, tries to solve the murders with keen detective work. Dr. Forbes Winslow (Fraser MacCallum) does the forensics work with the bodies. Pegeen (Barbara Rodenhizer) employs clairvoyance and tries to read the future, and bungling police commissioner Warren (Greg Chandler) oversees the whole operation.All the while the bodies are piling up, and it becomes funnier and funnier to watch the characters struggle to solve the killings. This parallels the story of the real Jack the Ripper. There are many conflicting theories as to who the killer was, none of which are conclusive. This, according to Haines, is what makes Jack such a fascinating character.
Adding to the fun of the show are its alternate endings. Each night, actors draw straws backstage to determine who will be revealed as the killer for that show. A different killer is revealed every night, and not even the other actors know who they might be until they meet them onstage.
Audience response to the show has been enthusiastic, and even more people attended the second show than the first. Fraser MacCallum is thrilled to have so many caught up in the mystery.
“It’s a great show because it’s a whodunnit; the audience is involved all the way,” he says.
Jack the Ripper opened on Friday the 24th and played again the 25th, and will play again Thursday and Friday of this week, the 30th and 31st. Tickets are $14 and can be purchased at the door. Dress up in costume on the 31st, and you can get a ticket for only $12. The doors open at 7:30, and the show starts at 8 and ends around 10. For anyone going to the Halloween pub at the Wave, it would be a great way to begin the evening!
If you’re like me and you have to ask somebody where the Carrefour theatre is, it’s inside École François Buote. If you turn off Riverside Drive at the hospital and follow the left side of the fork in that road, it’ll come up on your right.
Haines is very pleased with how the show has been going. Asked for comment, he would only offer “muahahaha!” and that means a lot coming from him.
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