Jack the Ripper: The Women of Whitechapel

By Mark Valencia, 31 March 2019

Loading, please wait...

See full listing

“The insuperable problem... is the absence of the lad himself”

Reviewed at The London Coliseum, London on 30 March 2019

Bell, Jack the Ripper: The Women of Whitechapel

English National Opera

Martyn Brabbins, Conductor

Daniel Kramer, Director

Soutra Gilmour, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Natalya Romaniw, Mary Kelly

Dame Josephine Barstow, Maud

Janis Kelly, Polly Nichols

Marie McLaughlin, Annie Chapman

Susan Bullock, Liz Stride

Lesley Garrett, Catherine Eddowes

William Morgan, Writer

Alex Otterburn, Squibby

Alan Opie, The Pathologist

Robert Hayward, Commissioner of Police

Nicky Spence, Sergeant Johnny Strong

James Cleverton, The Photographer

English National Opera Chorus

English National Opera Orchestra

ENO’s Mahagonny: biting, bleak, brilliantly executed satire

David Karlin, 16th February

Never has Brecht and Weill’s satire on the inhumanity of man to man been render with such utter darkness; Simon O’Neill heads up a superb cast.

*****

Taken for a ride: an energetic revival of Così fan tutte at ENO

Dominic Lowe, 6th February

English National Opera's revival of Phelim McDermott’s popular production is a blend of spectacle with some first-class singing, with Lucy Crowe emphasising her Mozartian credentials.

****1

Cocteau-esque camp: Alden’s Partenope returns to ENO

Mark Valencia, 20th November

Christopher Alden’s Olivier Award-winning production of Handel’s Partenope returns to the Coliseum, but it's the singing that earns the plaudits.

****1

Dead Man Walking at English National Opera: a superb execution

David Karlin, 1st November

Anneliese Miskimmon's ENO production of Jake Heggie and Terence McNally's tale of crime, repentance, compassion and redemption compels from start to finish.

*****

Comedy falls flat in ENO's season opening Cinderella

Mark Valencia, 27th September

Julia Burbach and her designer, Herbert Murauer, are defeated by the wide canyons of the Coliseum stage in their modern-dress Cinderella.

**111

ENO gives Thea Musgrave's Mary, Queen of Scots a worthy performance

Nick Boston, 15th February

Musgrave's powerful depiction of a powerful woman at the mercy of male manipulation receives a strong staging from at ENO.

****1

More reviews...

Mark Valencia

Mark has worked in arts journalism for four decades, both as a writer and as a French-English translator. Nowadays he focuses his energies on reviewing opera and music. Mark also writes for Opera magazine and for Musical America as a correspondent for Europe and the UK.

Iain Bell's new opera for ENO, Jack the Ripper: The Women of Whitechapel