The Woman in Black

This play is billed as 'the most terrifying live theatre experience in the world'. That is rather over-hyping the show but it was scary, as well as funny. But then the two often go hand in hand to make the shocks even more shocking.
As a touring production the bare stage, hung with musty drapes, allows the actors to really flex their creative muscles and show their mettle. The necessity of paring down an ideal cast list to just two actors makes for a production that gives the audience's imagination a thorough workout. Something that was much appreciated by the sizable portion of the audience having a half term treat at this matinee.
The reason for this simplification to basically a two-hander is that in its original incarnation at Alan Ayckbourn's Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough it was a Christmas filler on virtually no budget. This meant nothing for extra actors, nothing for extra scenery and certainly nothing for a real dog! However, this financial constraint meant that playwright Stephen Mallatratt (sadly no longer with us) had to entreat the audience to fill in all the gaps with their imagination, something that is not done often enough. Frequently the audience's capabilities are under-estimated and productions are unnecessarily over-simplified. Not The Woman in Black.
Often a show will open with a bang, a production number or a major rousing speech to set the scene. Woman in Black bravely starts with the barest of whispers; an elderly man wanders onstage, almost unnoticed, and reads quietly from a book. This can go one of two ways. Either, as happened today, the audience instantly hushes or, as I am sure has happened before, it takes a while for the audience to realise the entertainment has started. In either case it is a brave and memorable way to start the story, especially when there is no front curtain to raise.
It is very difficult to say much about the story without giving away the plot (very much like The Mousetrap) so I am happy to laud the production values, writing and inventiveness of a play that would not have been out of place touring Victorian England. Lighting and sound are very effectively used to create the passage of time, the change of locations and the switching between re-creation and narrative. This production is a textbook study in how to people a bare stage with just a couple of chairs, a hamper, a rack of clothes and two exceptional actors.
While the first half succinctly sets up the legend of The Woman in Black the second half ramps up the tension, shocks and thrills until the denouement and an even more unexpected horror. It is no wonder that this play has been on in London's West End for the last 21 years!

© Paul Towers 29/5/2013