Warning: Watch The Woman in Black at your own peril. Especially if you are paranoid. Especially if you worry about things that go bump in the night.
Ever get that spooky feeling — you know the one, your neck prickles with the hint of a whisper, your scalp tingles and your feet get cold — you get that unnerving sensation that someone is looking over your shoulder, but you really don’t want to figure out who it is?
Well, seeing Susan Hill’s story, adapted into a play by Stephen Mallatratt, on stage gave me a case of the roaming eyes, the jerky legs and an urge to both shut my sight off and run, particularly when its eerie spectre almost floated down the aisle.
The story of a young Arthur Kipps’ brush with a murderous ghost that has cursed an entire town is engaging in any format: book, movie, theatre. But when you’ve got a gang of pros, all the way from West End, transporting you to the marshlands with quicksand that chugs to life and a creaky house that rattles with evil, death and disappointment, you know you are in spooky territory.
The actors in The Woman in Black are but three: two men and a lady. The two men play principal actors, senior Mr Kipps (Malcom James) and an artist who has been hired to perform as young Mr Kipps (Mark Hawkins). The aim of the exercise — to exorcise the Woman, the mad ghost, Kipps ran into many years ago; to find peace through a cathartic retelling of events. For this purpose, as is traditional in the play, first staged in 1987, Senior Kipps shall play a variety of roles — from buggy master to hotel owner. The Woman has but one role: to haunt.
The troupe is astounding in its ability to put up a montage of moments that, with scarce props, are thrilling, telling of a social milieu and a mother’s fierce and unwavering love for her child.
Senior Kipps transforms into his characters with a dexterity that is unwavering in its brilliance. With a stoop, added grunt, or simply a scarf, he gives up the familiarity of a few moments ago to harbour a new personality.
Jr Kipps, the thespian, on the other hand, has magnificent control of his body — the right twitch of a muscle, the bounce of a knee, the trip of a fool — that conveys both his naivety and setting of fear in his bones.
As for the spectre — well, for the want of a better word — she haunts.
Using sound to affect characters and the interplay of shadows and light to trill home the creeps, director John Payton offers an evening of fun-filled chills, complete with blood-curdling screams and audience interaction (no, we’ll keep this bit a secret). Love to be terrified out of your seat? This is one to watch this weekend.
Oh, and don’t look behind you.
Don’t miss it!
The Woman in Black runs at the Madinat Theatre in Dubai until October 2. Tickets to the show, held at varying times, start at Dh180.
