Stephen Mallatratt worked closely on this play with the director Robin Herford, who had directed all Mallatratt's work at Ayckbourn's theatre in Scarborough. Thus cleverly manipulating the audience's imaginations, whilst using every device of stage effects and production available to the modern playwright such as lighting, sound effects, and projected superimposed images, to boost up the power of the dialogue. "Imagine if you would, this stage an island, this aisle a causeway running like a ribbon between the gaunt grey house and the land" At one point in the play, the actor says, In this way, the play could also work surprisingly well on the page. Masterly use is made of special effects, and also of the audience's own imaginations, which could be said to be the key tool of theatre. One is Arthur Kipps, but the main protagonist is "The Actor". Thus the haunting of Eel Marsh House is presented as a play within a play. Stephen Mallatratt's version shows Arthur Kipps rehearsing with an actor, in an attempt to perform the story to family and friends. But the play employs a clever twist on the tale. The viewpoint character in the story is Arthur Kipps, a young father who has himself been bereaved. Whenever the spectre is seen, (view spoiler)
The plot of The Woman in Black centres on a mysterious ghostly spectre, dressed in black, who haunts a small English town. This comes through very strongly in The Woman in Black, and also in her other ghost stories, which have virtually become an annual tradition from this author. "everything with atmosphere and a sense of place". Susan Hill writes very widely across several genres, but says of her influences that she has always loved, The Woman in Black from 1983, was written by Susan Hill as a straightforward Gothic novel. It is currently the second longest-running play in the history of the West End, after Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap". This original production has been live on stage in the West End of London for over 25 years, and also on tour in Britain. The production was so successful that it transferred to London's West End two years later in January 1989. Stephen Mallatratt's play of The Woman in Black started off modestly, as a low budget production for the new 1987 Christmas play, in Scarborough, the home town of the novel's author, Susan Hill. Apparently over 7 million theatregoers have seen the play, which has been translated into at least 12 languages and is constantly on tour world-wide. If, for you, a story of terror is not a story of the slasher variety, but one where the fear and suspense is built up in your own mind - your own imagination - you will enjoy this play just as countless others have. It is an adaptation which qualifies as a reworking, with startlingly effective staging.
This is a review of the almost equally famous stage play, which Stephen Mallatratt has adapted from Susan Hill's novella. Yes, of course, The Woman in Black is a superb ghost story by Susan Hill. If, for you, a story of terror is not a story of the slasher variety, but one where the fear and suspense is built up in your own mind - your own imagination - you will enjoy this play just No, this is not a mistake.
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