The Incident Room (NHB Modern Plays)

By Olivia Hirst and David Byrne

It's 1975. The Millgarth Incident Room in Leeds is the epicentre of the biggest manhunt in British history, for one of the most notorious serial killers: the Yorkshire Ripper.
With public and political pressure mounting, hundreds of officers must work around the clock and resort to increasingly audacious attempts to end one man's campaign of terror.
Olivia Hirst and David Byrne's 'beautifully crafted' (Guardian) play goes behind the scenes to investigate the case that nearly broke the British police force.
The Incident Room was first performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2019, transferring to New Diorama Theatre, London, in 2020, ahead of an Off-Broadway run.
'The ingenuity of this piece is that it gives you a pacey, clock-ticking sense of what things were like' - Telegraph
'Tense and chilling' - Daily Mail
'Completely compelling to watch… intelligent, imaginative and, most of all, damn interesting' - The Stage

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Release date: Mar 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9781788503280

Olivia Hirst

Olivia Hirst is an actor and writer, and the co-founder of Lost Watch theatre company. Her plays include The Incident Room, written with David Byrne (Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 2019; New Diorama Theatre, London, 2020).

Book preview

ACT ONE

One

An explosion of first-day conversations are cut short. GEORGE OLDFIELD enters. Silence falls.

GEORGE. Five women dead. It’s been my first decision to pull all five separate investigations under this one roof. Running one centralised Incident Room. Welcome. We won’t be doing the usual. And we might not all like it. But we’re going to work together. Something in here has been missed, and we’re going to find it. Wilma. Who’s got Wilma?

MEG has Wilma McCann’s investigation file.

MEG. Here.

GEORGE. Wilma McCann, twenty-five-year-old, mother of four. Murdered night of 30th October just one hundred yards from her home, Scot Hall Avenue, Leeds. Working as a prostitute. Emily Jackson –

JIM. Here.

GEORGE. Found eighty days later – forty-two. Also working as a prostitute. Same method. No mistaking it. Then February of this year – all the same hallmarks – Irene Richardson?

SYLVIA. Here, Mr Oldfield.

GEORGE. Almost exactly the same spot. Leeds. Aged twenty-eight. Then he’s on the move. Few months later – April – Patricia Atkinson. Bradford this time.

ANDY. Here she is.

GEORGE. What’s your name, lad?

ANDY. Laptew, sir. Andrew Laptew.

GEORGE. Known pro. Found in her own flat. In her own flat. And now, the reason we’re all here, Miss Jayne