Review - Daily Express
Friday January 19 2001
For a real phantom, the best long runner is surely The Woman in Black. This highly efficient chiller started life in Scarborough in 1987 (it is based on a story by Susan Hill) and has been at its current venue for 11 years.
It is easy to see why Stephen Mallatratt's adaptation has lasted. It's a nerve shredding show which will goose your pimples a treat. It is set in a lonely house amid some foggy marshes and the books gallery of (living) characters is played by just two actors - currently Brian Miller and Mark Healy, both excellent.
The story's Victorian creepiness wraps around you like a seas mist as the story unfolds of a solicitor who visits the lonely house of a deceased client. The hallmarks of the genre are all there - the tight-lipped locals, the apparitions, the locked room at the end of the corridor with an empty chair that rocks itself. The real twist comes at the end when you realise that evil - the woman in black is its harbinger - is capable of being passed on like a fatal virus.
I revisited it at a matinee where a rowdy school party was determined to annoy teacher by laughing in all the scariest places. They pretty soon shut up when the story got going. There are no mysteries to this show's longevity; it works because it's a piece of highly effective craftsmanship.
Prepare to be haunted by one of the best horror stories your will ever see on the stage.
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Hello Magazine
Daily Express - 2001
The Independent - 1998
Friday January 19 2001
For a real phantom, the best long runner is surely The Woman in Black. This highly efficient chiller started life in Scarborough in 1987 (it is based on a story by Susan Hill) and has been at its current venue for 11 years.
It is easy to see why Stephen Mallatratt's adaptation has lasted. It's a nerve shredding show which will goose your pimples a treat. It is set in a lonely house amid some foggy marshes and the books gallery of (living) characters is played by just two actors - currently Brian Miller and Mark Healy, both excellent.
The story's Victorian creepiness wraps around you like a seas mist as the story unfolds of a solicitor who visits the lonely house of a deceased client. The hallmarks of the genre are all there - the tight-lipped locals, the apparitions, the locked room at the end of the corridor with an empty chair that rocks itself. The real twist comes at the end when you realise that evil - the woman in black is its harbinger - is capable of being passed on like a fatal virus.
I revisited it at a matinee where a rowdy school party was determined to annoy teacher by laughing in all the scariest places. They pretty soon shut up when the story got going. There are no mysteries to this show's longevity; it works because it's a piece of highly effective craftsmanship.
Prepare to be haunted by one of the best horror stories your will ever see on the stage.
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OTHER REVIEWS
Daily Telegraph - 2002Hello Magazine
Daily Express - 2001
The Independent - 1998
Fortune Theatre, Russell Street, London WC2
