Penny Flood reviews The Woman in Black, at the Richmond Theatre
Twenty seven years after it first opened in the West End, this play within a play is still the best ghost story in town. A glorious Gothic romp through the supernatural with tongue firmly in cheek, it's a clever two-hander starring David Acton as Arthur Kipps and Matthew Spencer as The Actor. It's creepy, scary and very funny all set in a gloomy theatre about 100 years ago.
Arthur Kipps, a retired solicitor suffers from nightmares because of something that happened when he was a young man. He decides that the only way to rid himself of these nightmares is to tell his story out loud, but because he's not a good narrator, he hires The Actor to give him some lessons. Together they act out Kipps's story with the Actor playing to role of Kipps and Kipps himself acting as narrator, as well as playing all the other characters who pop up.
As a young solicitor Kipps was sent to Eel House, a dilapidated pile in a remote village somewhere in the north of England, to settle the estate of a recently deceased client. On his way he meets lots of people who behave rather oddly when he tells them where he's going, but nobody tells him why. He gathers there's a mystery surrounding Eel House, but he doesn't believe in ghosts so has nothing to fear - how little he knows.
Brilliant use of sound, lighting and special effects keep things on edge. The house suddenly looms out of the darkness, a sea mist rolls in, the lights go out, shadows are shadowy, a grave yard appears out of nowhere, a rocking chair suddenly appears rocking unaided, and a locked door swings open, somebody screams -and let's not forget the woman in black herself who has a very strange way of making her presence known. Why was Kipps / Actor the only person to see her at the funeral?
Props are kept to a minimum with a few coats, some chairs, and a large wicker hamper which works as a desk, a pony trap, a train, a bed and whatever else it needs to be and the action rattles along at a cracking with never a dull moment. There are interesting time shifts as the two men slip in and out of character, and a intriguing, unsettling plot is slowly revealed. Just when you think it couldn't get any scarier, it does. It's a load of jolly hokum designed to make its audience jump and it works.
Then at the end as they go back to being themselves, Kipps declares himself to be finally exorcised of his ghostly past and the Actor can go back to his old life or can he?
Great stuff.
Penny Flood
September 22, 2016