There is nothing quite like a gothic ghost story on a chilled wintery night. This new tour of The Woman In Black fits the bill, with its creeping sense of foreboding and slow yet gripping unravelling of both the story and the characters on stage. There are many reasons that this play, based on Susan Hill’s novel, has run in the West End for 33 years; and one must be because this is the original and the best. It is deceptively simple and straightforward yet is incredibly clever in construction both in how it is portrayed and the story itself. Over the years the show has obviously changed slightly and this latest version is both richer and poorer than previous incarnations.

The story starts with Mr Kipps seeking assistance in public speaking from an actor in an empty theatre to be able to tell his carefully annotated ‘true’ story to his friends and family. The empty stage becomes everything imagined, from pony and trap to the causeway to the infamous and eerie Eel Marsh House. This play combines actual set and imaginary ones, which usually doesn’t work, but here it’s utterly brilliantly done.

The two actors: Malcolm James as Mr Kipps and Mark Hawkins as The Actor are both superb. Their retelling seems impulsively produced on the spot yet their movements with both real and imaginary items, including in some scenes synchronised movements, are flawless. The physicalising of the train travel with the lessening in quality of the carriages is shown simply by changing seats, and the pony and trap journeys including one with expert timing of going over a bump were a joy to watch.

Mark Hawkins goes from enthusiastically pushing his student to perform rather than just recite his story to portraying genuine fear in Eel Marsh House; while Malcolm James as Mr Kipps then multi rolling flawlesslessly through all the characters in the retelling of his tale is like watching a masterclass in acting: changing character through physicality, voice and tone, even the way he walks. Their way of interacting with the dog is so true to life and cleverly portrayed you end up almost seeing the dog, even though there is nothing on the stage.

The lighting adds such ambience, creating shadows, crisp outlines, reflections, and shadow projections of Eel Marsh House looming out of the marshes. These are even better than the last tour of this show: sea mists suddenly appear, covering the causeway to the house, while sounds emerge from specific locations, such as the voice of the vicar laying the old lady of the house to rest – all beautiful details adding texture and richness to the whole production.

It’s a story within a story and the audience quickly becomes immersed in the ghost tale at the heart of it. However, this production snaps back and forth between the tale and the tellers: the two different realities far more than the last tour. While the comedy is useful in the beginning, when it moves to telling the actual story, the tension mounts until a jump scare or two and then the cycle starts over again. This show’s snapping out of the ghost story effectively cuts the tension, and sometimes adds comedy. It’s the equivalent of watching a ghostly ghoulish tale by candlelight and someone walking in and turning all the lights on – sometimes that is literally what happens on stage. When you’re cosied by firelight you don’t want someone coming in and pouring a bucket of water over it. It could well be why the jump scares were followed by a huge amount of audience noise including laughter, rather than respect for the story, plus by the second act it had become irritating.

This is an exceptional show and there is lots to admire about this new production in both the acting and technical set-up, especially in terms of sound and lighting. However, it is poorer for the changes in the script or vision of this version; although, if you had no comparison, no doubt you would still rate it very highly and you would be right to do so. Without those back-and-forth jumps, apart from right at the beginning and the end where they should be, this would be a show nothing short of perfection.

Theatre Royal Brighton, Tuesday 27th February 2024
The Woman In Black runs until Saturday 2nd March 2024
Photos by Mark Douet