The play was written by Stephen Mallatratt adapted from the book by Susan Hill.  The production style of the play is an immersive gothic horror with naturalistic acting. The Woman in Black is about a man called Arthur Kipps retelling his story on encountering a place called Eel Marsh House. But as the story goes on, we start to discover the truth as to why he is there, the story behind the house and the strange things that happen in the village. Eel Marsh house is a place where when the tide comes in it is cut off from the mainland and becomes isolated from the village. We slowly discover that Arthur Kipps has gone to Eel Marsh House to sort out the affairs of one Miss Alice Drablow. Throughout the play the actors and the audience come together to discover the truth of what happened with Alice Drablow and her sister Jenet Humphreys (The Woman in Black) There are significant themes that happen in the play including – death, revenge, and heartbreak. Jenet Humphreys plotline is key to the play. We find out as an audience that Humphreys had to give up her child without seeing him properly. We then later discover that Jenet Humphrey’s son sadly passed away when the tide was coming in. Sadly, Jenet feels the blame for the reason as to why her son died because she was stuck at the top of the house and watched what happened. Jenet Humphreys passes away and haunts the house that she once lived in. Years later Arthur Kipps attends the funeral of Alice Drablow and sees the Woman in Black but nobody else does. When staying at the house Kipps encounters the Woman in Black on several occasions. When returning to London to see his fiancé and his child Kipps sees the Woman in Black and sadly his fiancé and son die. Many years after he tells the story again to his grandchildren.

When watching the play in London I was shocked, scared, and speechless, the actors on stage portrayed the play and how they managed to have a shock around every corner. I also loved how they designed the stage to suit the play and how it was set with a gauze at the back of the stage with loads of set behind it. To shock the audience with what is behind it. The lighting was used well to fit in with the genre and the style of acting they used, especially when inside the house and a torch was being used for when the power went out. The sound that was used was incredible the way it was used to represent a horse and make high pitched noises to make us as the audience feel uncomfortable when sitting a watching the performance.

The reason why GCSE Drama students went and saw The Woman in Black in London was to help us for our exams. In our exams we have two sections, section A and section B. Section B is a live theatre review where we must answer questions about the set design, lighting acting and if we were the director how we would do certain things. We were so lucky to go and watch this performance and hopefully students who pursue drama will have a chance to go and watch this incredible play. 

Faith Kern, Year 11