The Woman in Black
The Woman in Black
A Ghost Play
Adapted by Stephen Mallatratt from the book by Susan Hill
"I had a story, a true story, a story of haunting and evil, fear and confusion, horror and tragedy. But it was not a story to be told around the fireside on Christmas Eve." – Kipps, The Woman In Black
Arthur Kipps was a successful English lawyer at the height of his young career. He had a fiancé who adored him and a boss who admired him. The future looked bright for this young Victorian Brit. Little did he know that a routine business trip to settle the estate of a recently deceased woman would change his life so drastically. He entered this journey as an optimistic, confident man of business but left it a broken soul, cursed by what he saw: the ghost of the woman in black.
Set in an eerily remote area of England and surrounded by fog and moaning winds, the Eel Marsh House is one of the most daunting, isolated structures for miles. The locals won’t step foot in its direction and dare not talk about it – not even to help the eager, young Kipps. The mystery about its last occupant – Mrs. Drablow -- and the lone figure of a woman in black with a wasting face – sends chills up anyone’s spine who even thinks about it. It is up to Kipps to make his way there alone, settle Drablow’s papers and return home in as efficient a manner as possible. To help with the task, he keeps convincing himself he doesn’t believe in ghosts. This works fine until he sees her and becomes the victim of a decades-old curse.
Adapted for the stage from the book by Susan Hill, The Woman in Black is a classic Victorian ghost story. In the way that Edgar Allan Poe was able to keep his narrator on edge in such stories as "The Tell-Tale Heart," Hill has woven a story that haunts the viewer not only for what is openly revealed, but for what may also be lurking in the shadows – both real and in the recesses of the mind. The play provides a feast for the imagination – a real remedy for the overstimulating storytelling often found in modern tv and film. And the structure of the play is equally creative. In the beginning, Kipps has come to an actor for help in telling his tale – some 30 years after it happened. Since his departure from the Eel Marsh House, one specific event occurred that changed the course of his life forever. Haunted for decades about his experience, he has resorted to telling the story theatrically in the hopes to purge it from his life forever. Together, the actor and Kipps reenact all the characters and events of the story. Does this experiment remove the curse? You’ll have to see – if you dare!
This Halloween season, see this classic Victorian tale of an eerie haunted house, a vengeful spirit and the man who tries to break a curse forever. On stage at the Hippodrome October 17-November 9.
Hippodrome
25 SE 2nd Place
Gainesville, FL
352- 375- 4477
