The Woman in Black - A Northern Theatre Review

Some shows do not need buckets of blood or a pounding soundtrack to get an audience squirming, they just need a dark stage, a few well-placed shadows and the confidence to let your imagination do the rest.

There is something wonderfully old-school about The Woman in Black. In an age where horror often arrives with a cheap jump scare and enough CGI to wake the dead, this long-running stage chiller still backs itself with atmosphere, imagination and nerve. Seeing it at Bradford Alhambra tonight was a reminder of just how effective simple theatre can be when it is done this well.

What really impressed was the staging. It is lean, clever and beautifully judged, allowing the audience’s imagination to do a lot of the heavy lifting. Doors, shadows, sound and suggestion are used with real confidence, creating that dread sense that something awful might be waiting just out of sight. It is proof that you do not need elaborate effects to get a crowd on edge. You just need precision, timing and a production that knows exactly what it is doing.

The cast were excellent throughout, completely committed and utterly in control of the show’s tonal shifts. One of the pleasures of The Woman in Black is the way it moves between moments of humour, storytelling and growing menace, and that balance felt especially strong here. The performances grounded the piece and kept it compelling from start to finish, even as the tension steadily tightened.

That said, as someone who is a horror film fan and fairly battle hardened when it comes to scares, I did not find it especially frightening myself. Creepy, yes. Effective, absolutely. But terrifying enough to send me hiding behind the seat, or elicit a scream - not quite. That may say more about me than the production, though, because judging by the gasps, jolts and nervous laughter around the auditorium, it certainly got under the skin of a lot of the audience. And really, there is something quite joyous about being in a theatre full of people collectively bracing themselves for whatever might come next.

So while The Woman in Black will not haunt my sleep, I admired it and respected the craft. It is a beautifully realised piece of theatre, expertly performed and atmospherically staged, and it shows that a well-told ghost story can still cast a very long shadow.

Cast
John Mackay — Arthur Kipps / Mr Kipps
Daniel Burke — The Actor
Dominic Price — Understudy The Actor
Philip Stewart — Understudy Mr Kipps / Arthur Kipps

Creatives / Crew
Stephen Mallatratt — Playwright
Robin Herford — Director
Antony Eden — Associate Director
Michael Holt — Designer
Kevin Sleep — Lighting Designer
Sebastian Frost — Sound Designer