On Wednesday 13th March at The National Liberal Club, Alex Clark will interview soprano Lesley Garrett, composer Iain Bell, author and historian Hallie Rubenhold and Josephine Knowles, co-director of Beyond the Streets. Lesley Garrett will perform an extract from upcoming ENO Opera: Women of Whitechapel accompanied by grand piano.
Full ticket price will be donated to Beyond the Streets. £12.50, available on eventbrite.co.uk
Beyond the Streets works on the same streets today as the unidentified killer publicly known as “Jack the Ripper” murdered five women on. This was just over 130 years ago but the stories of those he killed mirror many stories that are heard today. The stories of the five murdered women have often been missed and both English National Opera and Penguin Random House are helping to retell their stories. In doing so, there is a desire to shine a light on the lives that are often forgotten in our capital city today.
Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary-Jane are famous for the same thing, though they never met. They came from Fleet Street, Knightsbridge, Wolverhampton, Sweden and Wales. They wrote ballads, ran coffee houses, lived on country estates, they breathed ink-dust from printing presses and escaped people-traffickers. What they had in common was the year of their murders: 1888. The person responsible was never identified, but the character created by the press to fill that gap has become far more famous than any of these five women.
Lesley, Iain and Hallie will finally set the record straight, revealing a world not just of Dickens and Queen Victoria, but of poverty, homelessness and rampant misogyny. The women died because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time – but their greatest misfortune was to be born a woman. Josephine will reflect on the reality of women on the streets today – 130 years on – who find themselves caught up in homelessness, prostitution and violence. The evening will be chaired by Alex Clark of The Guardian.
For more information: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/alternative-jack-the-ripper-event-an-evening-discussing-the-lives-of-polly-annie-elizabeth-tickets-56638896464
