11 – 16 March

World famous staging of Susan Hill’s ghost story THE WOMAN IN BLACK tours to Bath direct from a thirty-three-year West End run.

Stephen Mallatratt’s thrilling stage adaptation of Susan Hill’s chilling ghost story, The Woman in Black, visits the Theatre Royal Bath from Monday 11^th to Saturday 16^th March as part of a nationwide UK tour, starring Malcolm James as Arthur Kipps and Mark Hawkins as The Actor.

Obsessed with a curse that he believes has been cast over him and his family by the spectre of a ‘Woman in Black’, Arthur Kipps engages a sceptical young actor to help him tell his story and exorcise the fear that grips his soul. It begins innocently enough, as the two men act out the solicitor’s experiences on Eel Marsh all those years ago. But 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.

Malcolm James reprises the role of Arthur Kipps having previously performed in the play on tour in the UK and in the West End. His other theatre credits include The Mousetrap in the West End and Volpone at the National Theatre. His screen credits include HBO’s My Dinner with Herve, Secret Invasion for Disney+, BBC’s EastEnders and Doctors, and ITV’s Coronation Street and The Bill. On radio, Malcolm has performed in Letters to an Icon, The History Man and a number of afternoon dramas on BBC Radio 4. He has appeared at Bath’s Theatre Royal previously in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead in 1996, The Portrait of a Lady and A Doll’s House in The Peter Hall Company 2008 Season, Birdsong in 2013 and The Two Popes in 2022.  

Mark Hawkins first played The Actor in The Woman in Black at the Fortune Theatre in the West End and at The Madinat Theatre. His theatre credits also include The Railway Children at London’s Kings Cross Theatre, Julius Caesar at The Globe, the UK tour of Lady Chatterley’s Lover and an international tour of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. His television credits include HBO’s The Nevers and ITV’s Vera.

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

The Woman in Black was first performed in 1987 at Theatre-By-The-Sea in Scarborough, before playing Hammersmith’s Lyric Theatre in January 1989. It transferred to the West End two months later, appearing at London’s Strand Theatre (now the Novello Theatre), before moving to the Playhouse Theatre, and finally lodging at the Fortune Theatre in June 1989. In June 2019 the production celebrated its thirtieth anniversary in the West End with a special gala performance. The Woman in Black has been seen by over seven-million people in the UK after playing more than 13,000 performances in the West End across thirty-three years, and touring nationwide many times. A favourite with Bath audiences, this visit marks the eleventh time The Woman in Black has toured to the Theatre Royal since 1989. The production has also enjoyed huge success across the world; it has been translated into at least twelve languages and performed – at the last count – in forty-two countries.

The Woman in Black is directed by Robin Herford, with designs by Michael Holt and lighting by Kevin Sleep. The novel 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 also 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. Robin personally directs every recast and has also directed and performed in The Woman in Black abroad. Some of the other twenty-three productions directed by Robin which have appeared at the Theatre Royal Bath, include The Secret of Sherlock Holmes, Season’s Greetings and Relatively Speaking.

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 will reach twelve books next year. In 2012 a film adaptation of The Woman in Black starring Daniel Radcliffe, became the highest grossing British horror film in twenty years; a sequel, The Woman in Black 2: Angel Of Death, was released at cinemas in 2014.

The Woman in Black appears at the Theatre Royal Bath from Monday 11^th to Saturday 16^th March. To book tickets contact the Theatre Royal Bath Box Office on 01225 448844 or visit theatreroyal.org.uk

Photo credit: Mark Douet