Interview with the Vampire Steampunk Demondaz... - The Woman in Black - A Review

09:33 am - The Woman in Black - A Review

Yeah, the tWiB, saw it last night and the Fortune theatre was filled with screams!

It has to be said that a the start of tWiB you are presented with a rather drab and slow start but it becomes apparent that this is part of a performance which quickly heaps on momentum and is skillfully put together.

There are just two (or are there 3) protagonists to the story.  The stage opens upon Authur Kidd, an older and troubled gentleman who is haunted with a tale from his distant past and the performance represents Kidd's ambition to tell his tragic tale once and for all as a dramatised reading for his family and friends, to tell his secrets and hopefully put his troubled mind to rest once and for all.

The second protagonist, a younger gentleman who's name escapes me at the moment, is playing the role of an actor and/or theatre producer who has been commissioned by Kidd to help him tell his story.

There are a couple of clever juxtapositions used which serve as platforms for the drama that is unfolding.  Firstly  the actor decides that it would be best if he plays the role of Kidd, this makes perfect sense as Kidd's tale is set many years in the past and it is fitting that he is played by someone closer to his own age at the time.  The Older Kidd is to play the roles of 'everyone else' ,again makes perfect sense, and it is scripted that he is best taking these roles as he was there to observe how these people acted at the time.

The second is that the performance represents the production and rehersals for Kidd's dramatised reading and therefore time swaps between the past - The Ghost Story itself - and the present as Kidd and the actor put together the show.

The plot itself has all the classic elements of a Ghost Story, a funeral, a haunted house, dark secrets and tight-lipped locals unwilling to talk about matters.  It also has some gothic elements in that we are presented at one moment with mental images of comfy family yuletides and the sun shining upon the coastal waters of Britain before we experience the horror and tragedy of the story.

There is also a nice twist for the ending, not entirely unforseeable, but quite clever nevertheless.

It's easy to see, but I was still impressed, to read that tWiB was originally adapted only to make a fill-in performance to last a couple of weeks and now enjoys it's 20th anniversary.

If you have a mind to take in some theatre, or even some Fear-Tor, I cannot recommend this show highly enough.

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