19^th – 24^th July.

Now celebrating more than three decades in the West End, the unanimously acclaimed staging of the spine-tingling thriller The Woman in Black visits the Oxford Playhouse. A brilliantly successful study in atmosphere, illusion and controlled horror, Robin Herford’s gripping production stars Robert Goodale as Arthur Kipps and Antony Eden as The Actor.

A lawyer obsessed with a curse that he believes has been cast over him and his family by the spectre of a ‘Woman in Black’, engages a sceptical young actor to help him tell his terrifying story and exorcise the fear that grips his soul.

It all begins innocently enough as the two men act out the solicitor’s experiences on Eel Marsh all those years ago. But then, as they reach further into his darkest memories, they find themselves caught up in a world of eerie marshes, moaning winds and tragic secrets and the border between make believe and reality blurs.

The Woman in Black was first performed to rave reviews in 1987 at Theatre-By-The-Sea in Scarborough. It transferred to London’s West End in 1989 where it has enjoyed continued success ever since. It has also completed twelve national tours. One of the most successful theatre events ever staged, The Woman in Black celebrated its 30^th Anniversary in the West End in 2019 with a special gala performance. The 2021 UK tour runs from June to October. In September, The Woman in Black will also run concurrently at its West End home, the Fortune Theatre, where it is now the second longest running West End play after The Mousetrap.

Stephen Mallatratt’s ingenious adaptation of Susan Hill’s best-selling ghost story combines the power and intensity of live theatre with a cinematic quality inspired by the world of film noir to provide audiences with an evening of unremitting drama and sheer theatricality. Also a global success story, the production has toured internationally to countries including the United States, India, Tokyo, South America, Singapore and New Zealand. A favourite with Bath audiences, 2021 marks the tenth time The Woman in Black has toured to the Theatre Royal since 1989.

Robert Goodale plays ‘Arthur Kipps’, a role he has previously played in The Woman in Black on UK tour and in the American capital, Washington DC. Amongst Robert’s previous stage roles, he has performed in multiple productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company and Shakespeare’s Globe, as well as a host of productions across the UK including The Importance of Being Ernest and Arcadia at Bristol Old Vic. Robert has performed at the Theatre Royal Bath previously in the West End production of The Duchess of Malfi in 1995; Festen, directed by Rufus Norris, in 2006, and in the West End production of Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense in 2014, which he also co-wrote with his brother David Goodale, winning an Olivier Award for Best New Play. His screen roles include playing Mark Stephens in the Channel 4 and Netflix series Traitors; Dr Julian Raynes in the film Redcon-1; Dr. Webb in the film Captain Webb; and guest roles in many primetime series including Victoria, Foyle’s War, Heartbeat, The House of Eliott, Holby City, Doc Martin, Midsomer Murders and Inspector Morse.

Antony Eden plays ‘The Actor’, a role he previously performed at the Theatre Royal Bath in 2012. His many stage credits also include Harry Potter And The Cursed Child and Les Misérables in the West End; Alan Ayckbourn’s A Brief History of Women and Taking Steps at the Stephen Joseph Theatre and in New York; Yes, Prime Minister on international tour; and a number of productions for Edinburgh’s Lyceum Theatre. Antony has also previously performed at the Theatre Royal Bath in Relatively Speaking in 2016 and Carrie’s War in 2010, both of which also toured the UK. On television, he has appeared in Derren Brown: Apocalypse on Channel 4, ITV’s The Bill and played Kevin in Kevin and Co and Kevin’s Cousins for the BBC. Antony is an associate director for The Woman in Black. He also directs and produces shows with his own theatre company, Dead Letter Perfect.

The Woman in Black was adapted for the stage by Stephen Mallatratt (1947-2004), who wrote his early plays while working as an actor in Alan Ayckbourn’s Scarborough Company. He adapted The Forsyte Saga for ITV in 2002, in a lavish new production of the BBC’s classic 1968 drama. His other television work included Coronation Street and Island at War in 2004. 

Director Robin Herford has worked extensively with Alan Ayckbourn and Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre. He joined the company in 1976 as an actor, after training at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, he was appointed Associate Director in 1979 and was Artistic Director from 1986 to 1988. Whilst Artistic Director at Scarborough, Robin commissioned Stephen Mallatratt to write Touch Wood and Whistle, a play about white witchcraft, and the phenomenally successful adaptation of The Woman in Black, both of which he directed. He personally directs every recast and has also directed and performed in The Woman in Black abroad. Robin has directed nineteen previous productions which have played the Theatre Royal Bath including Season’s Greetings, Relatively Speaking and The Secret of Sherlock Holmes.

The Woman in Black follows the classic ghost story tradition of Charles Dickens, M.R James, Henry James and Edith Wharton. Stephen Mallatratt’s adaptation for the stage remains entirely true to the book itself and uses much of Susan Hill’s own descriptive writing and dialogue, while transforming the novel into a totally gripping piece of theatre.

Dame Susan Hill’s many novels also include I’m the King of the Castle, Strange Meeting, In the Springtime of the Year, The Mist in the Mirror, and Mrs De. Winter, a sequel to Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. Her books have won the Whitbread Fiction Award, the Somerset Maugham Award and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and been shortlisted for The Booker Prize.  She has also written non-fiction and children’s books and reviewed books for national newspapers and journals. In 2004, Susan wrote the first of her crime novels featuring Detective Chief Inspector Simon Serrailler, a series which now numbers ten books.

In 2012 a film adaptation of Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black starring Daniel Radcliffe, became the highest grossing British horror film in 20 years. Its sequel, The Woman in Black 2: Angel Of Death, followed in 2014.