English National Opera Review: Jack the Ripper - Women of Whitechapel

Gripping. Realistic. Harrowing.

This is the real story of the women of Whitechapel in 19th century London.

The play follows a group of women who earn their living (if you can even call it that) through prostitution, until savage murders by none other than the infamous Jack the Ripper take ‘one of their own’ on the streets of Whitechapel. As the policeman put it, ‘few of our men dare to go to Whitechapel after midnight’.

 Honestly, the Opera was quite slow to get started, but after the first 45 minutes, the plot really started to pick up speed. Throughout the entirety of the show, the singing of the cast as phenomenal, and the staging – a more integral part of any play than one might think – as fantastically executed. The lighting was done so well, I felt I was immersed in twilight throughout the play, expect for when daybreak occurred, which was presented so realistically I actually thought they’d drawn a curtain to let real daylight in through some hidden window. It’s fair to say when I walked out into pure daylight after the play, my eyes had some adjusting to do.

 One of my favourite genre of entertainment to watch are historical truths, yet I found myself uncomfortably squirming in my seat as I contemplated how fortunate I was to be born into the era and the family I was. Usually the historical truths I watched depicted royalty, romance and power – of which this opera was the antithesis. This play is real: it depicts the difficult lives of women during (time) and is very relevant for the feminist climate we are living in today (whether we like it or not). Through the midst of the harrowing topic, I did however, find myself chuckling when a very cockney character sang a very cockney greeting ‘Oi’ in an English Soprano accent.

Personally, I think any Opera is impressive due to the length of time the performers are singing, how they act whilst they sing so powerfully and still manage to portray a very emotional retelling of a story. This Opera was of course like none I had seen before and would highly recommend it, giving it an overall rating of 4.5/5 stars.