I had a great evening out at the theatre recently. I became one of over 7 million theatregoers who have seen The Woman in Black. Imagine – more people have seen this play than the entire population of Scotland!
The play is now celebrating 25 years in London’s West End, having opened in Scarborough in 1987 and then in the West End at The Lyric, Hammersmith in January 1989. After a spell at the Strand Theatre and the Playhouse, it finally moved to The Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden in August 1989. And there it has remained for more than the entire lifetime of some of the audience last night – a whole group of teenagers wonderfully dressed up in posh frocks or dinner suits. The loudest screams came from their direction. Maybe the young like to be scared and make the most of it…
The stage play was adapted by Stephen Mallatratt from a book of the same name written in 1983 by Susan Hill. It is now the second longest-running non-musical play in the history of London’s West End, after The Mousetrap. It’s also in its 9th year at the Rafael Solaria Theatre in Mexico, been translated into at least 12 languages and performed at the last count in 41 countries.
The Woman in Black is a remarkable play – both in terms of concept and delivery. With very little on the stage except an old laundry hamper, a couple of chairs and a coat rail, it sucks you in to the plot from the very beginning.
And the whole play is performed by just two actors. Oh how I envied them being able to remember their lines with such clarity and ease, and then making their characters believable when they swapped roles to become either Kipps or the Actor. How they remembered who was who at any one time was a fete in itself.
The Woman in Black is a great play. It has to be, as it’s lasted so long. And it is scary. You know it’s going to be scary. You wait for it to be scary. But you are still caught out when the horror happens. Like any good horror plot, it grabs you when you least expect it.
If you haven’t seen The Woman in Black, book yourself a couple of seats. Take someone with you – be prepared to be scared!
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