“The Woman in Black is a bloody good ghost story, unnerving and very well told.”
“Oxenbould shows infinite versatility in his roles”
Julia Newbould
4 /5 turns of the screw
Edge of seat suspenseful drama
Books, movies and plays…for me, it’s all about the story. And The Woman in Black is a bloody good ghost story, unnerving and very well told.
The occasional screams and jumps around me certainly demonstrated a highly enthralled audience, who were swept up in the tension of the superb acting by Jamie Oxenbould and Garth Holcombe.
Based on the 1983 novel by Susan Hill, it was adapted for the stage several years later by English playwright Stephen Mallatratt, who also adapted the similarly themed Turn of the Screw and Rebecca.
Mallatratt’s adaptation became one of the longest running plays in London’s West End. He successfully added the conceit to the story of it becoming a play within a play.
The story begins with Mr Kipps who has written a manuscript to tell his friends and family of his experiences . He is unsure how to deliver the contents of this manuscript so he engages a young actor to help him craft it. The actor and Kipps take turns to present the manuscript through a variety of characters, typically with the actor playing Kipps, and Kipps taking on all other roles. It’s a clever presentation of the story – which is simple in delivery but highly effective without need for elaborate staging nor multiple actors – just sound effects and an engaging tale.
Kipps’s tale begins with him being sent by his law firm to fog-bound Eel Marsh, where the funeral of his firm’s deceased client Mrs Alice Drablow is about to take place. He agrees to represent the firm at the funeral, and stay on to go through her papers at her isolated home, which is accessible only at low tide.
We follow Kipps through his detailed storytelling which sets out the weather, the journey, the conveyances for his travels, and the characters he meets.
We see the marsh, the quicksand, the fading light, his small dog, all through the colourful descriptions, and when he eventually arrives at the town of Crythin Gifford we see it too. When he gets to Eel Marsh house we feel the eerie isolations and his experiences of ghostly occurrences. He eventually learns of the background to the terrifying noises he hears in the night – the screams, and whimpers and banging of doors. And the apparition of the woman in black.
Oxenbould shows infinite versatility in his roles – as Mr Kipps, Mr Jerome, Mr Daley, Keckwick and Mr Bentley. His accents, his posture, his timing are all excellent and keep the flow of the storytelling taut.
Holcombe has a presence from his first appearance as the despairing actor trying to coach Kipps into being more of a “Henry Irving” in his delivery of his manuscript. His arrogance is subsumed by a more vulnerable character as he becomes Mr Kipps.
The Ensemble has done a great job with this classic, with just two actors in this cleverly staged adaptation. It’s a classic tale in the gothic mould, but with a little humour to remind you of its British roots.
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Julia Newbould, Theatre Now
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