“The Woman In Black”

Nottingham Theatre Royal.

Written by Susan Hill and adapted for the stage by Stephen Mallatratt, this play has been in the West End for 33 years. 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. Certainly from the amount of screams from the audience, it was found out that this production does have a big scare factor! 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. there are scenes where the silence seems to go on for a longer than expected time, and then when you start to relax back into the expectancy, the jump scare comes.

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 incredibly effective when revealing the ghostly figure of Jennet Humfrye in several unexpected places plus the sounds from Alice can also take you by surprise.

It's not all frights though as the play, before the play within the play, has several wonderfully jocular moments which is a big contrast to what is to come later in the play.

Some say the play takes a bit of time to get going but it's very clever as it builds the tension up all throughout Act One, paving the way for a tense Act Two.

John Mackay(Kipps) and Daniel Burke (The Actor) are extremely good at building, maintaining and breaking the suspense, It's the direction by Robin Herford, the lighting by Kevin Sleep and the sound design by Gareth Owen that make this story come to life and create the shocks.

The set, by Michale Holt, 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 as well as 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 did and I've seen it before, and the appearance of the Woman In Black at the end will unnerve you and possibly stay in your memory for a while.

What was really good to see was the age range of the audience, and there were a few schools and colleges in on Tuesday night. Apparently, Susan Hill's "The Woman In Black" is on the educational curriculum and is being classed as a "modern classic", well I can't disagree with that. When I was at school the literature spectrum consisted of Shakespeare, Dickens and the like, certainly not a modern horror, but if it gets a younger audience into the theatre then I am all for that!

And if you have to walk home, be aware of any sudden mists, or frets, and shadows! Don't have nightmares.

"The Woman In Black" is at the Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 14 March and has an age guidance of 12+