Lauren Crisp is a book editor, writer and keen follower of arts and culture. Born and raised in Harrogate, Lauren recently moved back to North Yorkshire after a stint in London, where she regularly reviewed theatre – everything from big West End shows to small fringe productions. She is now eager to explore the culture on offer in and around her home town. You can contact Lauren on [email protected].
The Woman in Black has been making West End theatre audiences jump out of their seats for over three decades. Now on a national tour, the play, based on Susan Hill’s chilling 1983 gothic novel, and its eponymous spectre, arrive this week to haunt York’s Grand Opera House.
We meet Mr Kipps, a gentleman troubled by a chilling tale from his past. In an attempt at catharsis, he elicits the support of a young actor to help him tell and perhaps exorcise himself of his most frightful story: one of an eerie house stranded in foggy marshes cut off by tides, and of the horrifying apparition of a woman, her face “stretched and strained”, her figure shrouded in black. From this, a play within a play unfolds, as the two undertake to enact the spooky saga.
We come to forget that just two actors, Malcolm James as Mr Kipps and Mark Hawkins as The Actor, portray a whole gothic creation between them. They do so quite magnificently, supported only by the titular ghoul, whose appearances are as frightening as they are fleeting.
Set on the stage of an empty theatre, Kipps and The Actor are equipped with only the simplest of props to aid their storytelling, encouraging us, the audience, to exercise our imaginations, to picture the numerous settings, and to imagine the two men as the various players in the tale.
As long shadows form on draped dust sheets, we are transported to a haunted house. As a smoke machine billows thick fog, we, too, become marooned in the marshland. A wicker basket doubles up as a pony and trap; an assortment of chairs become a train carriage. The men pick garments from a clothes rack as they hop deftly between scenes and characters. There is even an imaginary dog, Spider, who accompanies a terrified young Kipps to the house and, somehow, this invisible animal brings us comfort, too.
And it is as we, the viewers, imagine these sights and engage our imaginations, that the tension builds. Along with the production’s thrilling use of sound and lighting, the play is a study in storytelling, minimalism and the power of suggestion – its simplicity chills. It is pure theatre.
The Woman in Black is at Grand Opera House York until Saturday 3 February.
Read more:
- Review: Leeds Playhouse’s Oliver! is a glorious festive treat
- Review: Peter Pan Goes Wrong brings mischief and mayhem to Leeds
