Writing for Fun
July 2018
Catch Me If You Can - Bob Wendelkin
Catherine Eddowes had spent time writing this play for her local AmDram group to which she belonged. There was something in her that nagged at her to write this play which she called ‘Catch Me if you Can’ - it was about Jack the Ripper. She had not only written the play but she was also its Director. Some how she felt that the actors were not giving it the realism that she wanted.
‘No! No! No!’ she cried in exasperation, ‘Up to this point you think you are dealing with one of your normal customers. You are trying to encourage him to part with some money for your services. You are treating him as if you were afraid of him, that comes later,’ said Catherine as she tried to give direction to one of the girls.
‘Well you come up and show us,’ replied the actress feeling a little put out.
With that Catherine climbed on to the stage waving the script at the girl to go to one side.
She began. ‘Hello, Darling looking for a good time. I’m certain that I could fit in a big boy like you, and its most things for six pence and for a shilling the night is yours,’ said Catherine with a lightness in her voice as she tried to direct the actress.
‘It’s only later when she finds out to her cost that she had Jack the Ripper as her last customer. Now try it again,’ said Catherine trying to encourage the actress.
The actress tried again, it was better but Catherine still felt there was a way to go. She called the cast together on the stage.
‘I’ve been thinking all of you have come from such sheltered lives you can’t have any idea of what these girls did and how they lived. I’ve decided that we should go to London and go on a Jack the Ripper’s Walk through the back streets of Whitechapel where he killed these women, to help you better understand the play.’
‘You must remember that we are trying to pay a sort of compassionate tribute to the lives of the four women butchered by the Ripper. You girls who are playing the victims of Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride and Mary Jane Kelly. You must remember that they had to make a living but they were not proud of their profession. As the murders take place they become even more frightened of going out on the streets but their circumstances in life forces them,’ said Catherine.
The group agreed that it would be useful to go the area where the girls plied their trade and the Ripper murdered them. Catherine asked them to dress in the clothes that they would wear for the play to help to get into the feel of the time and place. With their agreement she booked a coach and a guide for the trip.
The group left the coach and were greeted by their guide for their evening’s walk.
‘It’s nice to see that you have all taken this visit seriously and dressed in the costumes of the 1880s when these murders happened. The area where we are going to walk is where the Ripper killed the girls, some of the buildings are still there, some were damaged during the war but I think the feel of the place is still there. Many of the girls’ customers came from other parts of London and only came to the East End for two things, one was to go to the local Musicals that happened quite near here and the other reason was for the girls. Please keep together and as we walk, I’ll point out the places where Jack carried out his evil doings,’ said the guide as he took the group off the main road into the back streets of Whitechapel.
Catherine although she organised the trip and wrote the play now began to feel nervous and a little frightened and not sure why she wanted to continue with the walk. She had always had a feeling about the Ripper Murders hence the reason why she had written the play. Now her stomach gripped her and gradually she fell to the back of the group and then finally the group moved off into the distance leaving her alone.
As she stood there on her own, for a moment there was a ripple in the light and the buildings quivered, a flash of lightening and a roll of thunder. Then it seemed to grow a little colder such that it caused Catherine to shiver. The lights seemed to grow dimmer and she noticed that they were the old fashion gas lamps. She thought the gas lamps had been left there to help create the atmosphere and the history for the area.
It seemed to grow even colder and Catherine pulled her fox fur wrap even more tightly around herself, but still she shivered. In the distance she could swear that she could hear the clatter of horse shoes on cobbled stones. As she looked a fog seemed to creep slowly along the road towards her then wisps of mist entwined her.
As she stood by one of the lamp posts she could not see anyone of her group they had gone and she felt so alone. Suddenly out of the darkness a figure began to come towards her.
‘Hello, I haven’t seen you before only this is my place, it’s just as well I’ve made my money for the night I got my sixpence so I can have a bed for the night and some gin. I like a drop of gin after a nights work, with the Ripper around I try to finish early,’ said the woman from the darkness.
‘I’m not here for that, I’m here to get a feel of the place for my group of actors. I wrote a play about the things that happened here,’ replied Catherine believing the voice came from one of the Ripper Walk Group of actors.
‘Oh! Pardon me, Madam does have a posh voice, you might get some of the customers who come over from the West End. Now this is my place I don’t want to see you here again, otherwise you and I will fall out, got it? I have a man friend who will sort you out in a way painful for you,’ said the woman as she moved into the light given off by the gas mantle.
Catherine could see that she seemed old before her years, her clothes were worn and her hand trembled a little and her eyes seem quite sunken and her cheeks we withdrawn.
‘I can assure you that I will not be here tomorrow,’ replied Catherine.
‘Why, have you an appointment with the Ripper?’ said the woman as she looked around searching the darkness. ‘I like you, so if you want I could get my man to keep an eye on you, it will cost you mind, still that’s better than being ripped to pieces. Think about it,’ continued the woman.
‘Told you I write plays,’ replied Catherine
‘Suit yourself,’ said the woman as she walked off into the darkness.
Somehow with the woman’s departure made Catherine feel even more alone. She wondered what had happened to her group. Still if she stayed under the lamp they will pick her up when they return to the coach.
‘Hello,’ said a voice from out of the darkness, it was from a man with a cultured accent. ‘Are you looking for a bit of business? I’ve got something very special to give to young girls like you.’
Catherine was taken completely by surprised being addressed in this manner by a stranger. The man was still in the darkness but he gradually moved out of the shadows. Catherine could see that he was a middle-aged man carrying a briefcase he was well dressed with a cloak over his shoulders.
Catherine believing he was part of the Ripper Walk Group decided to play along.
‘What you looking for governor? A quick one or all night all for a sixpence or a shilling,’ asked Catherine.
‘I think a nice long one,’ said the man as he came closer to her.
The man was so close to her she could smell his breath, it stank of tobacco and drink. He pushed himself against her.
‘That’s close enough,’ as she tried to push him away, even if this was a bit player he was still too close as far as she was concerned.
‘Do you know who I am?’ asked the man as he touched her face with his gloved hand.
‘No but go away.’
‘Some say I’m Jack and I always call out ‘Catch me if you Can’ when I’ve done my work,’ replied the man.
Catherine never noticed that the man had drawn a knife and plunge it deep into her heart. She slumped to the floor. Jack looked around and as the street was completely empty he started to cut into Catherine’s lifeless body.
Once more a ripple seemed to sweep across the road followed by a distant roll of thunder.
‘Come on, keep together,’ said the group leader as she counted them back onto the coach. ‘We are all here, I hope you enjoyed the trip and it will help you to play your parts, when we rehearse again,’ said the leader.
A voice from the back of the coach said, ‘I thought you said that the Ripper killed four girls. The Ripper Guide said he murdered five women.’
‘That’s right five girls. Catherine Eddowes and four others,’ replied their leader as the coach pulled away from Whitechapel.