“Woman In Black”

Nottingham Theatre Royal.

Written by Susan Hill, it’s the story of a lawyer, Mr Kipps, obsessed with a curse that he believes has been cast over him and his family by the ghost of a mysterious woman in black. He hires a young actor to help him tell his story in play form, within the play. It begins innocently enough but gradually they get caught up in Kipps’ eerie past.

Having seen the play previously, it can be difficult for a newcomer to this theatre play to conceive that a piece of theatre can have the same scare factor as the film. What we must remember though is that this was first a book and to get the most from a book, you have to use your imagination, and that’s part of the secret of this play.

Many of the scenes played out in the film are described aurally as well as having sound effects to allow the viewer to conjure up images in their own mind, in some ways quite the opposite of what theatre is meant to do as most theatrical productions are very visual, but that’s where the scare factor comes from. While your mind is conjuring up the images from the sound effects and story, this allows the visual side of the play to take over and create that “sudden” image which makes you jump.

Not only that but there’s the expectation of being frightened and when that fright comes at you in the surroundings of a place like a theatre, not at the times you expect it, that’s where the true frightening experience comes from.

The choice of set is simple yet effective. For instance a smoky stage and a lighting stencil of a vast mansion are all that there is to depict the marshland beyond the deceased Alice Drablow’s manor, leaving the audience’s mind to question what might be lurking in the mist.

The show has several ‘jumpy’ moments; the use of lighting is especially effective when revealing the ghostly figure of Jennet Humfrye in several unexpected places plus the sounds from Alice can also take you by surprise.

Malcolm James (Kipps) and Mark Hawkins (The Actor) are really good at building, maintaining and breaking the suspense, It's the direction by Robin Herford, the lighting design by Kevin Sleep and the sound design by Sebastian Frost that make this story come to life and create the shocks.

The set is sparse, which is good for not being a distraction, but the props that are there, like the rocking chair are vital and you home in on this and the music box with the knowledge that they are there for a reason, helping the anticipation and the tension because you just know that there's a reason for them being there.

The raked stage also makes it very easy to see everything from front to back.

You will jump, I didn't this time around, but that's because I've seen it a couple of times before. It did make my skin turn a slightly cooler temperature though. That said there were many people who hadn't seen this play previously if all of the blood-curdling screams from the audience were any measure of the impact this spooky piece of theatre had. The appearance of the Woman In Black at the end though will unnerve you.

I caught the bus home, There is a little ginnel with three flights of steps to descend, overhung with shrubbery and badly lit that I have to access to get home. I will admit that my footsteps quickened at this part of my journey, and felt quite uneasy as I had images of the black clad figure with the wasted face just waiting for me as I turned out of the narrow staired walkway.

It may not have made me jump inside the theatre, but it's what you take away with you in your mind that affects your logic, after all, there's no such thing as ghosts.....are there?

"The Woman In Black" will be materialising every night until Saturday 2 December at the Nottingham Theatre Royal. It's frighteningly good!

Sleep tight now.