The Woman in Black

29th August 2015, at the Fortune theatre. We did not have any understudies for the performance.

The actress playing the woman is not named, to give the illusion that you have in fact seen the real woman in black! 

I had been wanting to see The Woman in Black in London since I first read the book and saw the play when I was 15/16 and studying it for GCSE English Literature at my local theatre. I really do like ghost stories and other horror classics, yet none of my family or friends had ever wanted to go. However, my Dad saw the film on TV and then we went to see the second film, so he agreed to go. 

The theatre is small which works really well for this play as the whole audience feels as though they are part of the set. The set is minimal in the foreground, with more going on behind a partially see through curtain that you can only see through when you shine light directly on it or behind it I think (if anyone knows the name of this material, let me know!). It comes out quite far into the audience with one central part basically where the rest of the front row should be which acts as the marsh where the pony and trap has sunk. The only props to begin with are a basket, a chair, a coat stand, a door and behind the curtain covered objects and a staircase. The covered objects act as grave stones and later make room for the famous rocking chair and the objects in a small boys room from the late 1800s/ early 1900s. The actors use the whole of the small stage well, as well as moving through the audience to create a few scares! 

The lighting and sound naturally have to be very good in a production like this and they are. The lighting is used to distinguish between where scenes are taking place, as well as building up the tension. The spookiest parts are when there is no lighting and you are relying on the light from the actors torch or candle to see. The shadow effects were my favourite part as trying to workout where the woman was is quite fun. The use of the smoke is really good as at one point you cannot see at all and are put in the exact same position as Mr Kipps and get to experience what he is supposed to be experiencing. Sound effects are key for ghost stories and they did work well. The music box is naturally quite spooky, but the most famous sound effect is the rocking chair pounding on the floor, which was really good. I think the screams of the woman were recorded, which could have possibly worked better with someone screaming live. It is all done without microphones, which is fine and everything can be heard well. 

Both the actors were really good, excellent at the humorous parts, especially Mr Kipps and then switched into the scary parts brilliantly. I really can't fault their portrayals of the actor and Mr Kipps. Their costumes were kept simple and in keeping with the time period, which obviously keeps it more realistic. The design of the woman's costume was nice, I think there was less to it than the one in the film and in the production I had seen before. However, the dress flowed nicely when she walked and the head covering wasn't too much so that you could not see her face when you wanted to. The make up was very good to give her the description that Susan Hill wanted. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the night. It didn't scare me as much as I thought it would, but as I knew the story really well I kind of guessed when some scares were coming. The final scare could have been a lot bigger I suppose but some of the other scares were very good. The build up to some of them was brilliant and did make me nervous about what was about to happen. The people sitting next to me jumped spectacularly every time! The actors all did a very good job and I think the thing I will most remember about this night was the tension in the atmosphere! Go along and see if it scares you!

Here's the website to book tickets:http://www.atgtickets.com/shows/the-woman-in-black-tour/fortune-theatre/