“I’d always known in my heart that that experience would never leave me. That it was woven into the fibers of my being. Ah yes, I had a ghost story. A true story. A story of haunting and evil. Fear and confusion. Horror and tragedy. But it was not a story to be told around the fireplace on Christmas Eve.”
The Woman in Black Adapted for the stage by Stephen Mallatratt
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Vertigo Theatre’s Production of The Woman in Black directed by Jamie Dunsdon and starring Joe Perry and Andy Curtis is a tension-filled journey into fear and terror. Yes, it’s a ghost story but I think it’s more than just an encounter with the supernatural. If the play had nothing more to offer us than a few chills and thrills, I don’t think it would have run for 33 years and racked up 13,232 performances to make it the second longest-running non-musical play in London’s West End.
No, I think the appeal of the play comes from the fact that Arthur Kipps, the main character in the story, through no fault of his own finds himself in a life-and-death struggle with forces beyond his control. That is what makes the story so relatable. In our own lives we all encounter such forces but usually in the form of disease or accident and those encounters can leave us fighting for our survival or can change the trajectory of our lives. So, for me, that’s a key component as to why I enjoyed the play so much. I can identify with Kipps. What man or woman or person hasn’t found themselves in a situation where the forces of nature or the decisions of others whom we have no control over impacts our lives and all we can do is man the lifeboats and ride out the storm.
The Woman in Black is based on the 1983 novel by British author Susan Hill and adapted for the stage by Stephen Mallatratt and was first staged in 1987 at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough before premiering in London’s West End in 1989. The play takes place in a Victorian Theatre where Arthur Kipps an older gentleman played by Andy Curtis has hired a younger actor played by Joe Perry to help him tell his story. Kipps is troubled. In agony. Haunted. The telling of his story he hopes will purge his life of the horrible experience he encountered as a young man. The Actor is only too happy to help him stage the story and tackles the telling of it with enthusiasm. To make the telling of the story work the Actor takes on the role of Kipps and Kipps using his memory of those he encountered portrays all the other characters.
The story is a simple one. A reclusive elderly widow by the name of Mrs. Drablow has died and Kipps is sent to the remote town of Crythin Gifford to attend the funeral and sort through her papers and settle her estate. The Estate is the fog-shrouded Eel Marsh House that can only be reached from the mainland at low tide along a narrow causeway. A local man by the name of Keckwick drives Arthur out to the estate in a pony and trap. At the estate, Kipps discovers a locked room, a family graveyard, and personal letters from Jennet Humfrye the sister of Mrs. Drablow that help shed light on the mysterious Woman in Black. I don’t want to say too much more about the plot as I think that would destroy the mystery for those who don’t know the full story and a lot of the fun as an audience member is the slow reveal of who the Woman in Black is and what terrible things have been visited upon the townsfolk of Crythin Gifford.
The sound design by Andrew Blizzard, set design by Scott Reid, and lighting design by Narda McCarroll are blended perfectly in a way that adds to the mystery and tension. Along with these design elements wonderful performances by Joe Perry and Andy Curtis help deliver plenty of spine-tingling chills. In his notes to the play Stephen Mallatratt says, “Darkness is a powerful ally of terror, something glimpsed in a corner is far more frightening than if it’s fully observed. Sets work best when they accommodate this – when things unknown might be in places unseen.” And I’m happy to report that this production of The Woman in Black takes that advice to heart.
Darkness like silence is a tool for creating emotion and engagement. And the fun thing about creating suspense is that done right you invite the audience to use their own imagination as part of the experience. Who hasn’t woken up in the dead of night and glanced to a corner in the bedroom and been seized by the sudden fear that something is lurking in the corner? A good ghost story uses those natural instincts to create a terrifying experience. And more than once during the play audience members screamed and afterwards a nervous wave of laughter washed over the theatre. And that’s because we buy into the story and that indicates just how effective the lighting is at creating mystery and suspense and how the sound sets the scene and how perfectly designed the set is to allow for events to unfold.
There’s also a chemistry between Joe Perry and Andy Curtis that makes the play work. Curtis has such a rich and easy voice and he feels so centred on stage that he draws us into the story. Perry captures the enthusiasm of the actor as he dives into his character blissfully unaware of the danger he is putting himself in as he brings the Woman in Black’s story to life. This really is an ensemble production where every choice from the acting to the costumes to the setting to the direction combine in such a way that we are swept into another world where our hero finds himself in a terrifying and life-altering experience.
In our own lives, we may not face malevolent spirits, but we certainly do encounter an unexpected illness or betrayal or financial setback at times in our lives. So even though the play deals with supernatural evil we understand the play because we have encountered such feelings and emotions in our own lives. Joy, failure, fear, hope – emotions are the tapestry of life and director Jamie Dunsdon is a master at creating emotionally compelling theatrical experiences and her production of The Woman in Black provides audiences with a safe way to experience something terrifying and emotionally satisfying because the truth is we go to the theatre as much to experience fear and terror as laughter and joy.
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