The Woman in White

Synopsis

Marion and Laura's new drawing master has come to introduce some variety into their quiet lives. However, his chance meeting with a mysterious woman dressed all in white entangles the sisters in a web of fraud madness and murder. The only person who can unravel the mystery is the woman in white, who claims to know a secret which would free them all. But how far can they trust someone who has just escaped from a lunatic asylum?

Our Review:

Anne Morley-Priestman - 25 July 2011

We probably all know the outline of the story told in Wilkie Collins’ novel, first published in cliff-hanger weekly parts in 1859-60, The Woman in White. Nicola Boyce’s stage adaptation keeps many elements of the eye-witness accounts of the original, dividing her dramatisation into 35 short scenes across three acts – which makes for a longish evening.

The production by Ian Dickens seems to hover uneasily between the naturalistic and the symbolic, certainly as far as the settings and the costumes are concerned. It makes for some scene-shifting longeurs, especially in the last act, and detracts from the tension which the actors do their best to maintain.

Both the lead women do splendidly, with Lucy Cudden’s Marian suitably fiery as well as intelligent – a New Woman in the making, though I’m not sure that either Collins or his initial publisher Charles Dickens really approved of or appreciated her character. [Isla Carter...

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Latest User Review

Matt - 28 October 2011:

I wasn't too keen! I thought it was largely overacted and hated the silly blackouts in between every scene! And those scene changes just went on! And no programme to accompany to performance! Colin, I think was marvelous and really tried his best to keep the lacking production going....

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