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Performance times are: Mon-Sat 20:00, Tue Mat 15:00, Sat Mat 16:00. Runs 110mins.
Synopsis
Based on Susan Hill's 1983 thriller, The Woman in Black London has been running for over 20 years.
Fog and creepily haunted houses, supernatural happenings, sea mists and dark stormy nights, lonely funerals and creaking attic doors, all combine in Stephen Mallatratt‘s gripping adaptation of The Woman in Black book that creates a thrilling night out that taps into our primal fears.
A grieving lawyer believes a curse has been cast over him and his family by the spectre of The Woman in Black. In an attempt to exorcise the spirit he engages a sceptical young actor to help him tell his story. His plan begins innocently enough, but as the border between reality and fantasy blur, the horror starts and the flesh begins to creep.
The Woman in Black play was first performed at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough in 1987. Notable for only having two actors perform the whole play, it moved to the Fortune Theatre in London's West End in 1989 where it still runs today.
Over the years Woman in Black London has seen a number of cast changes, (including a young Joseph Fiennes) with every new actor bringing his own interpretation and style to the roles. In autumn 2010, Hammer Films began production of a 3D film adaption which features Daniel Radcliffe in the role of Arthur Kipps, the young lawyer
What’s on Stage have some great cheap Woman in Black tickets so you, like the 7 million people who have seen the show, can live to tell the tale of one of the most exciting, gripping and successful theatre events ever staged!
Note: The cast for this production has changed since the writing of this review. For current cast details, please see The Woman in Black listing entry.
The fact that London's theatreland is reputedly replete with ghosts - at least six of the major playhouses are said to be haunted - brings verisimilitude to The Woman in Black, a ghost story set in a creepy little theatre, not unlike the Fortune itself.
The play, adapted by Stephen Mallatratt from Susan Hill's novel, has all the staple ingredients of a classic gothic spine-tingler. There's the old dark house, lashings of spooky sea mist, a recently deceased Miss Havisham character, a faceless coachman, and a good old-fashioned curse. The only thing you don't get is the incessant clank of chains being dragged along deserted corridors.
Although Hill wrote The Woman in Black in the '70s, it feels like a synthesis of dark Victorian literature: a pinch of Dickens, a measure of Bram Stoker, and some Henry James thrown in for good measure. There's a twist waiting around every corner, and a denouement that will turn your blood as cold as the Haagen-Dazs they serve during the interval.
The core of the play recounts the tale of the unfortunate Arthur Kipps (Paul Webster), a solicitor's clerk dispatched to a Northern market town to settle the estate of one Alice Drablow. Here he encounters the eponymous phantom, but any attempts to enquire after her are stonewalled by the locals. Kipps puts up at the Drablow ancestral pile, Eel Marsh house, accessible only at low tide across the ominously named Nine Lives Causeway.
Marooned by thick fog, the young solicitor is forced to suffer certain spectral goings on, and although he eventually discovers the meaning of the things that go bump in the night, it is, by then, too late.
Under Robin Herford's direction, much of the play's action takes place outside the proscenium arch, the actors using the aisles and orchestra pit, all to maximum effect. Michael Holt's set brings the requisite gloom to the production, but is also a masterpiece of improvisation. At various points in the action, a large wicker hamper doubles as a bed, desk, railway carriage, and even a pony and trap.
Of the cast, Jamie Newall as The Actor, is the paragon of an English thespian, while Webster is suitably versatile in his many guises.
The Woman in Black already seems to be a permanent fixture in the West End (opened in 1989), a mandatory stop along the tourist trail, and almost a site of pilgrimage for coach parties and out-of-towners. Like that other enduring favourite, The Mousetrap, this effective little shocker should run and run.
Just seen this April 2011. Outstanding acting by Anthony Eden and Patrick Drury,how they remember so many lines.!Nice twist at the end.Only downside is that I didn't find in frightening at all, and apart from 1 scene quite predictable whenthe ghost would appear.However the quality of the acting made this a great production - Nigel Osborne
17 Apr 11
Great for teenagers....adults, not so much. It was a bit silly. - 81.171.142.181)
06 Nov 06
really enjoyable and scary at times slightly slow at beginning but makes up for it with fast paced second half - 62.252.64.30)
18 Jun 06
I went o see this play when i first visited london! i loved every secound of it and what made it even better is that daniel coonan is my cousin and i got to see back stage and all the dressing rooms after the show! - 86.135.98.65)
17 Jun 06
Not at all scary, drags on. Theatre is always full of bored kids on school trips. - 195.92.35.134)
05 Jun 06
I am not sure how the WOS review has ended up with three stars for this show.
This is theatre at its best! A highly effective shocker of a play, that uses the two (three!) actors to maximum effect.
The lighting and set are all key to the story and be warned of the loud noises.
I was very skeptical at the start of the play, but give it half and hour and you will be screaming with the rest of the audience. - 195.93.21.8)
14 Feb 06
I have seen the show 3 times now , having taken various young family members over the years and I never get tired of it. The set up is so simple yet effectve and the play ratchets up the tension with the most minimal of effects. Really great stuff. I saw the show two nights ago and brought my two 15 year old nieces who just loved it.I think the current cast (Paul Chapman and Daniel Coonan) are probably the best I have seen so far as they play the humour very well at the beginning and then really go on to make the most of the nasty stuff in the second half. Everyone who is at all interested in theatre should go and see the play. Its really great entertainment and keeps you and the family on the edge of the seats!! - 80.44.140.107)
29 Nov 05
Rly scary, great atmosphere - 212.219.191.134)
28 Nov 05
Wonderful! I don't think I've ever been so scared in my life. I was nearly sitting on top of my seat. Wow! I'd love to go again simply to watch the audiences reactions. "It's like a rollercoaster!" to quote a delighted theatregoer who was sitting behind me. - 62.252.0.10)
04 Aug 05
What can be said about this production. I am certain everything has already been discussed at some point in the long history of this play. And yet it remains a compelling piece of theatre. It starts so slowly, but it just keeps building. I have to say I spotted the twist quite early (surely a product of my watching too many scary movies!!), but the acting skills of Paul Chapman and Daniel Coonan gave exquisite performances. You could see Paul Chapman's Kipps becoming a more accomplished performer with the passing of time between rehearsals and Daniel Coonan's Actor becoming more involved in the story being told. This combined with as precise and polished technical team as you could want meant there were no unwanted hiatus' and Act 2 fairly raced to a conclusion where events turn out as you somehow always knew they would. This play is surely all the better as it does not rely on the technical wizardry available today. Instead, at it's core is the human ability of each person involved. And yes, we all jumped out of our skins!! - 194.200.154.253)
First Fortune theatre built in 1600 in Cripplegate as a model of the Globe. Burned down in 1621 and re-built. Closed in 1642, dismantled in 1649 and pulled down in 1661. Current theatre opened 8 Nov 1924. 432 seats. Society of London Theatre member. Part of the Ambassador Theatre Group ATG
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