Review: THE WOMAN IN BLACK, Wolverhampton Grand - Tour

Photo credit: Tristram Kenton

After it’s astounding run of 33 years at the Fortune Theatre, Susan Hill’s The Woman In Black is out on tour direct from London’s West End.

Arthur Kipps is obsessed with a curse that he believes has been cast over him and his family by a spectre of a Woman in Black. Kipps engages a sceptical young actor to help him tell his story to his family and friends in the hope of exorcising the fear that grips him to his soul.

Directed by Robin Herford, the chilling ghost story never fails to raise the hairs on the back of your neck. With lighting design by Kevin Sleep and sound design by Sebastian Frost, you’re in for a night of scares, chills and delightful storytelling.

Malcolm James is Arthur Kipps, the disturbed man trying to find some kind of peace amidst the horror of his experience. Alongside him is Mark Hawkins as The Actor, an enthusiastic and naïve young storyteller who is about to share more than he bargained for with Mr Kipps. Both actors are encompassed in the world portrayed before us. They have good rapport and enthusiasm as needed, with an unexpected lightheartedness too as they envelope us within their world immediately.

Hill’s writing never ages. Set in the early 1950’s, the story remains as frightening and disturbing as it ever has done. With blood curdling screams, bumps in the night and the perfect building of tensions throughout, you’d be hard pressed to find any story that chills to the bone in the way this production does.

Spine tinglingly good!

***** Five stars

The Woman In Black plays at Wolverhampton Grand until 9 September, with further information here, and continues touring across the UK until 1 June 2024.