
Photo by Mark Douet
Mark Hawkins in Milwaukee Repertory Theater's 'The Woman in Black'
Mark Hawkins in Milwaukee Repertory Theater's 'The Woman in Black'
The 2012 film The Woman in Black, starring Daniel Radcliffe, was a slightly disjointed telling of a popular play based on a bestselling novel. Given the play’s remarkable run on London’s West End, 33 years, plus acclaimed international tours, Antony Eden, associate director of the Milwaukee Rep’s The Woman in Black, can’t understand why Hollywood “would change the story so drastically! As a horror film fan, I enjoyed the film very much, but the real story, the best story can only be enjoyed by reading the book or, even better in my opinion, by spending two hours in a dark theater.”
In the 1983 gothic novel The Woman in Black by British author Susan Hill, the narrator, Arthur Kipps, relates his memories of uncanny encounters from long ago. Called to a remote village to settle the estate of a reclusive widow, he glimpses a pale woman dressed in black at the widow’s funeral. As he sorts through the widow’s belongings at her crumbling mansion, he is unnerved by strange sounds and more apparitions of the woman dressed in black. The classic English ghost story was adapted for the stage in 1987 by playwright Stephen Mallatratt, perhaps best known to American PBS viewers for his adaptation of The Forsyte Saga. The Woman in Black has seldom been absent from theaters in the years since its debut.
Aside from “the drama, the entertainment” of a good ghost story, Eden explains the genre’s endurance in an age when electricity supposedly banished all shadows. “Sometimes life deals us all a hand that is incredibly difficult to deal with and, most alarmingly, over which we have absolutely no control,” he says. “These can be the most challenging events in each of our lives. Ghosts are the dramatic personification of these events—a force to arbitrarily change or destroy your life over which you have no control. You can’t arrest a ghost, you can’t even kill a ghost. Whether you believe in them or not, ghost stories allow us to investigate that aspect of life that rightly terrifies all of us, in a safe environment.”
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Along with Agatha Christie’s Mousetrap, The Woman in Black remains one of 20th century Britain’s longest running plays. Why? “It’s theatre at its best in that it encourages imagination so that every audience member creates their own specific haunted house, their own individual relationship with all of the characters,” Eden answers, adding, “It could be the variety of the unique combination of styles in the show, the drama, the thriller, the suspense, the comedy … It could be because it is a love letter to theater itself and so the ideal production for both first time theater goers and those of us who spend our lives in theaters; it could be because it’s just a really really good night out.”
All of the actors in the Rep’s production of The Woman in Black have played their parts on London’s West End. “From small beginnings this mighty tiny show has travelled the world,” Eden says. “The audience should expect to see a vibrant, funny, moving, evening’s entertainment of the quality you’d expect from such a well-received play. I can promise we’ll bring you an evening of unforgettable laughs, drama and scares—all you need to bring is yourselves (and nerves of steel).
Robin Herford will direct the Milwaukee Rep’s The Woman in Black at Stiemke Studio, 108 E. Wells St., Jan. 21-March 23. For tickets and more information, visit milwaukeerep.com.