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The Woman In Black

Itchy is a self-confessed wimp when it comes to thrillers. We hid behind the sofa cushions watching Jonathon Creek, for God's sake. Obviously we were a little nervous when all we heard about The Woman In Black before we watched was "It's really scary". Thanks guys, way to put us at ease. But we survived. Without even a hint of checking under the bed before going to sleep.

The plot follows a gentleman who has lived through such an awful experience that he cannot lay it to rest until his story has been told, so seeks out an actor to help him with the telling. It soon becomes clear that reliving the details will not be a pleasant experience for either of them. Or the audience, for that matter.

Actually, the simple but polished performance began by making us giggle, although that may have been to lull us into a false sense of security before cranking up the tension. We won't give away the details or you'll miss out on the fear factor, but let us just mention that those in the front rows should be prepared to be so engulfed in stage smoke that they wouldn't see someone punch them in the face. Which is pretty scary in itself.

Itchy very much enjoyed The Woman In Black, as many, many theatre-goers and school-kids have before us: it has been running in the West End since 1989. It was marred slightly by said school-kids, who had a tendency to destroy any terror we may have harboured by screaming louder and longer than we thought natural then whispering to each other and grabbing on to boys during the lines that followed. But hey, maybe it was a good thing. At least we didn't emerge from the performance white-eyed with terror.

www.thewomaninblack.com

Ashleigh Arnott

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