Nearly 30 years old, the notorious adaptation of Susan Hill’s ghost story The Woman in Black returns for another immensely popular tour and is just as terrifying as ever. The longevity of the show is a testament to its enduring appeal and ability to frighten newcomers and veterans alike.
For the uninitiated, The Woman in Black is the theatrical recounting of an incident involving a young solicitor and an old house isolated in the North of England. Whereas the original book took the form of a classically structured gothic novel, the stage adaptation embraces the theatricality of the piece: the older Mr Kipp is consulting an actor on how to do a dramatic reading of his story but is goaded into making it a collaborative performance.
I think the long-term success of the play, and the quality still shining through in this performance, is that The Woman in Black does a lot more than being scary. It’s tremendously funny, especially in the first half as we are gently lead into the story proper from the rehearsals of Kipp and the actor. There’s an archness to the affair that reflects on the nature of staging anything; one of the reasons the play is so popular with school parties – to get them thinking about theatre. Besides that, the mystery of the story is engagingly structured even without the looming figure of the Woman in Black bringing the air of supernatural deathliness.
Although there are powerfully effective jump scares, the real strength of the staging is the use of shadow and slowly dimming lighting to create a sense of dread. The Woman’s presence is felt long before she ever enters the stage. In fact, the ability to manipulate the audience into tittering over the imminent arrival of the ghost and psyching them out when she isn’t coming is particularly well-honed. The audience becomes their own worst enemy.
With two well-practiced and pitch perfect actors in the form of Robert Goodale and Daniel Easton, as Kipp and the Actor respectively, you are masterfully transported from a sparse stage to the eerie shadows of Eel Marsh House.
The craving to be scared can be a hard itch to scratch and there are still few better tonics than Susan Hill’s gothic chiller. ★★★★★ Fenton Coulthurst 17th September 2019
