The gruesome history of the Jack the Ripper murders is well known. Five East End London prostitutes were killed in the span of about 10 weeks in the autumn of 1888. The killer was never found. Theories abound to this day as to his identity, but the mystery will never be solved.

The most compelling aspect of the Ripper story to me, though, is not the missing identity of the killer, but the human responses to the terror he creates. Anyone is a suspect, even neighbors, friends and lovers. Some are driven to unravel the story and find the truth. Others stop at nothing to obscure the facts and manipulate the situation to their own advantage. The many ways that people survive in a climate of fear—for better or for worse—is what drives the show and gives it modern relevance.

The Dickensian characters of the show—from the reporter who covers the story, the magician who runs the brothel, the police, and of course, the prostitutes—are brought together by an intricate plot that interweaves magic and mayhem, the lively nightlife of the music halls, and the ever-present danger of a killer lurking in the shadows.

More than a hundred years later, it is not the mystery of the Ripper’s identity that lingers in our consciousness, it is the fear that “what we see may not be what it seems.”

—Duane Nelsen