Sherlock Holmes and the Whitechapel Fiend review – the spoof’s afoot!

Barn theatre, Cirencester
The detective hunts for Jack the Ripper in a funny, tangled comedy on how crime is sensationalised for entertainment

This comedy adventure enlists Sherlock Holmes to expose the true identity of Jack the Ripper. As if that splicing were not enough, writers Toby Hulse and Ross Smith also seek to expose the cliches around both figures, throw in a spoof of true-crime dramas and examine the fault-lines between truth and fiction.

It is a lot to take on in two hours. The result is amusing and convoluted, with perhaps too much delighting in the emphatic use of theatrical devices and the breaking of the fourth wall.

At Barn theatre, Cirencester, until 9 March