by Jeff Grygny
What’s as cozy in the dark days of winter as a good old English ghost story?
The vengeful spirit is a fearsome presence in the lore of many lands: the banshee, the Fox Spirit, Frau Holle, the Goddess Hecate. Denizens of the realms between life and death in feminine guise, their apparition is usually a portent of evil. And now it’s come to cast its spell on us: The Woman In Black, brought to Milwaukee by Mark Clements, The Rep’s Artistic Director, to bring us together in the bleak midwinter season, is just such a tale, featuring just such a spirit, and, as evident from the play’s 20 year run in London’s West End, it delivers the creeps artfully and irresistibly. Based on Susan Hill’s 1983 neo-gothic novella, and adapted for the stage by Stephen Mallatratt, the story has two filmed versions (one starring Daniel Radcliffe, no less), and has played on stages all over the world: proof that we like nothing better than a good scare.
It’s the account of the terrifying events witnessed by Arthur Kipps, a young solicitor appointed to order a recently-deceased woman’s affairs in the remote (of course) seaside town with the marvelously arcane name of Krythin Gifford. Rather than have Kipps simply narrate the play, as in the book, Mallatratt has added another layer of storytelling: he has Kipps enlist the services of an actor to help adapt his lengthy written account to present to his family, in hopes that it will rid him of the dreadful memories that still haunt him many years later.
At first, Kipps, played by Ben Porter on opening night (the players switch off roles for alternate shows), is a wooden performer. But as the Actor takes on the role of Kipps, Kipps himself warms to playing the other characters; he actually seems to be having a good time being someone other than himself (an experience that many actors can recognize). Then the mysterious lady of the title makes her entrance, and the haunting begins.
As staged by veteran London director Robin Herford, the production rolls along with all the tension, suspense, and gut-slamming shocks one could want, with the confidence of theater artists at the top of their game. Both Porter and Mark Hawkins, who played the Actor on opening night, build a rising sense of disquiet through subtle glances and ambiguous movements that suggest all is not as it should be. Hawkins seems to lose himself in Kipps’ story, even while he’s moving set pieces around or impressively pantomiming a stalwart little dog into vivid existence.
Atmosphere is everything in a show like this, and with set by Michael Holt, sound design by Sebastian Frost, and lighting by Anshuman Bhatia, the production has it in abundance. Properly set in a time before cell phones, in a rambling house that stands lone in a vast flat landscape where water, land, and sky intermingle, swept by disorienting mists that rise without warning from the sea, the elements are haunting characters in themselves, captured in eloquent dialog and clever design. There are lights that fail when they’re needed most, ominous sounds in the middle of the night, a door that won’t open—until it suddenly does—and the inevitable hidden room…
It’s all geared to trigger your primal limbic fears, from prickling disquiet through rising foreboding to utter coronary shock. The woman sitting next to me apologized that she almost forgot her husband wasn’t sitting next to her and grabbed my arm by mistake. The old ghost stories still work. By all means, enjoy the supernatural frights, while we’re living in the dreary dark season in a world full of more tangible fears. But you might just want to leave the lights on that night.
Milwaukee Repertory Theater
In a special arrangement with PW Productions
presents
The Woman in Black
based on the novel by Susan Hill
Adapted by Stephen Mallatratt
playing through 23, 2025
Recommended Age: 12+