Gutted. Ripped open. Slashed and splayed. Prostitutes stalked in Whitechapel, London and viciously murdered. No, this is not a description of a new slasher flick from Wes Craven out just in time for Halloween. These crimes are at the heart of the case of Jack the Ripper, a London serial killer in the late 19th century, and are the basis of Jack, a one-man show by Michael Huie.

Jack, which premiered last year at SECCA, is the work of Huie, a Winston-Salem actor whom students may remember from his starring turn as Hamlet two years ago. Huie tells the story of the Ripper's reign of terror, and during the show he portrays everyone from a Jewish merchant accused of the crime to Queen Victoria's grandson Eddy, who some people still think is a viable suspect. The show was directed by Brook Davis, an assistant professor of theatre and Huie's wife. Davis and Huie used the sparse set (just a brick-wall measuring about six-by-six feet) to emphasize Huie's extraordinary talent and his ability to transform from one character to the next seamlessly, flawlessly, fluidly, captivating his audience.

The show begins with house lights up and the entrance of "Tiber Joe," the only character in the show who is not historically accurate, as our host/narrator for the evening. The first segment is a Punch-and-Judy show (directed by Jim Dodding, who also directed the university productions of Hamlet and HMS Pinafore), a darkly humorous puppet show. Huie decided to start with Punch and Judy because "Punch is in many ways like the romanticized ideal of Jack the Ripper. He kills people, does horrible things and gets away with it É Obviously there is nothing in my mind romantic about these horrible crimes, but over the years Jack the Ripper has become an icon with the image of a gentlemanÉstalking buxom prostitutes. The reality could not be further from the truth," Huie said.

There are so many conflicting theories about Jack, who can decipher the truth? In his show Huie offers suspects only. "We (Huie and his co-writer Jeff Miller) chose the characters whose stories we felt were compelling" and who were from all "segments of society," Huie said. He chose to write the show after stumbling across a Jack the Ripper Web site, www.casebook.org and was struck by the "societal and cultural problems the murders brought to light." Huie has performed his show several times since its premiere last year, at schools, colleges and even a Jack the Ripper conference in Baltimore.

Huie portrays many people who could have possibly been Jack, including a sensationalist journalist, Prince Eddy, a former lover of another victim and a Polish Jewish merchant arrested as a suspect in the murders ¯ just to name a few.

During the performance Huie moved through the small space, entrancing the audience. Just a cloak or a pair of glasses would instantly cause a change in physicality and accent. New characters were born before our eyes.

"He transformed it from a one-man show into an entertaining, creepy presentation of Jack the Ripper," sophomore Scott Thompson said.

This is just a nod to Huie's remarkable adherence to factual information, around which he based his story. I found myself constantly searching for the true killer among his characters.