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Culture Watch

The Whitechapel Conspiracy
by Anne Perry
Ballentine Books paperback

Anne Perry has staked claim to Victorian England and made it her own. She has two mystery series set in the period: The William Monk series and the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt books. The Whitechapel Conspiracy features Superintendent Pitt and his wife.

Because each book in the series deals with a stand-alone mystery, there is no need to read Perry's books in any particular order. The characters are, however, continuing and it has been great fun for me to follow the development of the personal relationships. By marrying a policeman, Charlotte has married beneath herself socially. Charlotte's sister, Emily, has married well twice; her second husband is a Member of Parliament. The sisters are also very close to Lady Vespasia Cumming-Gould, their great aunt, whose social position can reach up to the royal family. Pitt's advancement has allowed him to hire a maid, Gracie, who can move freely among servants; since she is quite intelligent (not to mention fascinated by Pitt's cases), she can often be useful in his investigations.

The Whitechapel Conspiracy opens with Pitt giving testimony in the trial of John Adinett for the murder of Martin Fetters. Pitt has build an airtight case against Adinett except for the fact he can find no motive for the murder. Nevertheless, Adinett is convicted and sentenced to be hanged and his appeal is denied. But Adinett had many close friends in high places, all of whom blame Pitt for the death of their friend. Pitt is portrayed as a "dangerously bigoted man who has abused the power of his office to carry out his private vendetta against the propertied classes...." Pitt is removed from his position as Superintendent of the Bow Street Station and seconded to the Special Branch, where his duties are to live in the East End and try to get a handle on revolutionaries.

It is obvious to everyone in the family that the only way to restore Pitt to his previous position is to find Adinett's motive for killing Fetters.

Thus we have concurrent investigations with Pitt trying to snuff out anarchists, nihilists, and terrorists, while his family is working to find Adinett's motive for murder. Before we are done, the two investigations bump into each other and tie into the infamous Jack the Ripper killings.

Perry writes with great skill, creating believable characters and plots that have more twists and turns than a mountain road. In addition to being sheer fun to read, they give a fascinating picture of Victorian England

Laura Haywood

And Consider This

The Juggernaut Theatre in NYC group is presenting free performances the plays of Aphra Behn (1640-89), Susanna Centlivre (1669-1723), Hannah Cowley (1743-1809), Elizabeth Inchbald (1753-1821) and Joanna Baillie (1762-1851), just five of the dozens of women who wrote plays over this period.

The site makes note of the fact that four of these five playwrights were guaranteed productions every time they wrote a new play. "The group as a whole was selected because they represent a variety of distinct voices and styles that show the development of the female playwright over the century."

The Professional Female Playwright (The First 100 Years) is highlighted by The Queen's Company, an all-female acting troupe:

"We are an adrenaline shot kicking the classics back to life. In our classical productions we use all-female casting. By returning to Shakespeare's tradition of trans-gender casting, The Queen's Company productions expand the performing opportunities for female actors, challenge gender assumptions and give new life and meaning to theatrical works. We are also committed to developing work by contemporary playwrights who refer back to the classical canon in the same way renaissance artists reached beyond the medieval age to classical Greek and Roman texts for inspiration."

Reservations are a must, and can be made in advance by e-mailing Duchessofnewcastle@yahoo.com

T.G.

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