The Woman in Black - just a pigment of my imagination?

It’s a strange thought that people choose to go to the theatre to be frightened out of their wits. The Women in Black, playing this week at Guildford’s Yvonne Arnaud, is famous for making the audience scream out loud and that would appear to be a strong selling point.

Antony Eden as 'the actor'

Based on a novel by Susan Hill, The Woman in Black has been adapted for stage by Stephen Mallatrat, who comments that ‘ghost stories aren’t that many in play form’, the main problem being that it’s hard to do them really well. The modern audience is now so used to stunning special effects in films that a shivering hologram or someone passing behind a gauze curtain in a white sheet simply isn’t good enough. Hence to build suspense today, less is definitely more. An occasional suggestion of the horror that lies behind a closed door or in the attic of some gothic mansion works very well indeed as people’s imaginations, unlike special effects, is the same as it ever was - powerful and potentially terrifying.

And so it is down to the actors to create the suspense. In this production just 2 actors carry that responsibility: Julian Forsyth and Anthony Eden play an elderly man with a terrifying past and a young actor keen to tell the tale. Both are faultless in their roles. Eden is energetic, enthusiastic and delightfully naive as ‘the actor’ who encourages an older man called Mr Kipps to act out the story that has terrified him for most of his life. Forsyth is brilliant as Kipps, growing into the role as the play develops and switching roles with the experience of an actor who enjoys a challenge. Sharp direction by Robin Hereford keeps the pace alive and the two actors convincingly create this two act tale with a couple of chairs and a wicker basket, an imaginary dog of whom we grow very fond, and of course some evocative sound effects.

Ah yes, the sound. How would a ghost story on stage survive without it? Played at high volume the thunder of horses hooves, the screeching and screaming of a woman possessed, the wind in the trees, even the slow ticking of a clock is enough to strike fear into any man’s, and certainly woman’s, heart. Even the Monday night often-quite-sensible Yvonne Arnaud crowd screamed out loud.

There were, I confess, a couple of moments when I felt like laughing particularly when we finally see the face of the poor old Woman in Black who has spent a lonely life in her spooky gothic mansion on the marshes. Mysteriously she is not mentioned in the cast list, and does not take a bow at the end. Was she even there, or did I imagine it?

The Woman in Black is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a UK tour and plays at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford until Saturday, June 8th. www.yvonne-arnaud.co.uk Tel: 01483 440000