Take a seatbelt with you if you go to see Stephen Mallatratt’s adaptation of Susan Hill’s ‘The Woman in Black’, because you will struggle to stay in your seat. Daniel Easton keeps the audience hanging on his every word and it is hard to tell if he is acting or genuinely terrified of the eerie veiled figure creeping around the shadows at the edge of the stage.
An unexpected turn of events was Robert Goodale appearing on stage as Arthur Kipps and reading dully from a very large manuscript. Murmurs from the audience confirmed everyone was confused, until Easton appeared at the back of the audience as The Actor, who had decided to help Arthur tell his story by playing him in a performance. There did seem to be a lot of discussion and chit-chat about Arthur’s poor acting skills and why The Actor must play his role rather than just getting on with the story and the performance. Some audience members did start to talk among themselves giving the impression that there was a common theme of boredom running throughout the theatre.
When they did eventually get on with the story, lighting and sound effects were one of the best parts of the performance. Lighting designer Kevin Sleep, and sound designer Sebastian Frost did an unbelievable job for this show. Onstage there was only one basket, a stool, a chair and a coat rack. Lighting was used to show where the actor was, dimmed lights when he was inside Eel Marsh house, bright white light when it was daytime outside, red lighting whenever the woman in black was near or something frightening was happening. The basket was turned into a horse and carriage with horse sound effects, a storm was created with flashes of light and noises of thunder and lighting, a café was created with sounds of clattering plates and people talking.
Because there are only two actors in this performance Goodale took on the role of five different parts, and he did a tremendous job. When playing Arthur Kipps, he slouched slightly let his hands shake and spoke in a rushed, nervous and scared manor. When he played the coachman he walked slowly, hunched over and mumbled when he talked, when he played the bartender in the hotel he stood up tall and straight and rushed around the stage as though in a permanent hurry, showing just through movement how busy this pub was even though we couldn’t see it.
Whenever the woman in black appears onstage both actors are very careful to ensure that only the actor looks at her, Arthur Kipps never notices or reacts to her presence. When the curtain at the back of the stage is revealed to be concealing the nursery, a black-faced rag doll is seen lying on the bed which felt rather distasteful and unnecessary because they are now extremely outdated and associated with racism. Although the play is set when these dolls were acceptable, it did not add anything to the play and could have been easily removed. It was also difficult to immerse yourself in the storyline and use your imagination to see what the actors saw onstage because they kept jumping back to being Arthur Kipps and an actor discussing his acting abilities and if he was doing the performance justice. It definitely would have been much more successful had they simply got on with the story and then went back to being Arthur Kipps and an actor at the very end of the performance.
Despite this small negative, The Woman in Black is an exceptional performance and there were even several members of the audience who actually screamed. An incredible use of acting, lighting, sound and imagination that will leave your heart racing and your hands covering your eyes.
