Fleur de Henrie Pearce
“A bungled police hunt for the infamous Yorkshire Ripper”
Following a two-year hiatus from live theatre, Award Winning Theatre company Wild Duck Theatre returns this Summer!
Since the pandemic the company has been hard at work producing and launching two seasons of their highly successful podcast series, Short Plays for Short Journeys.
A co-production with Barnes Community Players, sees Wild Duck Theatre return to Southwest London with The Incident Room, a compelling and beautifully crafted production By Olivia Hirst and David Byrne.
After Edinburgh success in 2019, followed by West End /Broadway transfers, this new play is a brilliantly well-constructed script with cutting sardonic humour. It follows the grim story of police bungles, misogyny, and prejudice in the hunt for the “Yorkshire Ripper” whilst also tracking the fascinating power of the search for “off-limits evil” to engage and absorb. It’s a gritty police procedural set in 1977 and told through a series of flashbacks and “what if” hindsight.
Director Susan Conte comments “There is a modernity in the treatment of these historical events, viewing with northern humour the police in their rigid thinking – before computers were used - and depending then much more on hunch, intuition, and lucky breaks to crack the case. The play also mines a timeless story of women who are too good at their job to be promoted. Police Sergeant Meg Winterburn, as the backbone of the investigation, hits the glass ceiling hard! Importantly it never loses sight of the murdered women (rather than the murders themselves) and how their ordinary lives were forever transformed by the media into solely that of victims.
I hope the audience will take away a refreshing look at how a major institution such as the police is only as good as its practitioners, that women have a right to their daily lives without fear, and that other women such as Sarah Everard can be remembered”.
With original music and captivating lighting this intimate production, set in the round, draws you into the heart of the hunt for the so called "Yorkshire Ripper”. From short lived successes to blind alleys, you are pushed and pulled in every direction, whilst always keeping one foot in the Incident Room.
With beautifully juxtaposed humour used to cut through the difficult subject matter this production is not to be missed! Posing the question that was as relevant then as it is today.
“If you are willing to push hard enough, can you be the voice of change and make a difference for future generations?” Tickets available now
Venue: Kitson Hall, Kitson Road, Barnes, London, SW13 9HJ
Dates: 31 May – 3 June (Sat Matinee 3 June)
Doors: 19:00 & 14:30| Performance: 19:30 (15:00 | 3 June)
Tickets: £16 (£11 Matinee) www.ticketsource.co.uk/bcp
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