'The Woman in Black' a classic Victorian haunting

By Philip Wright
Staff Reporter

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Jeff Steed and James Ball have wrapped their imaginations – and their considerable acting skills – firmly around the haunting tale of "The Woman in Black." But there’s more to this telling than good acting. Well-designed lighting and realistic sound effects help bring this moody and complex script to life in the mind’s eye.

Saturday night, moments before the start of the Verde Valley Theatre opening performance of The Woman in Black, Director Edgar Ball promised the audience they were about to see a "great piece of storytelling." The three-person cast of Jeff Steed, James Ball and Patty Engler kept their director's promise.

This is a ghost play - a play within a story. It's fun. It's old-fashioned storytelling at its best, the kind of story often told around a campfire. With a sparse set design and few props, the actors rely on the most important element of any great ghost story - imagination.

Unlike most of today's television and film, this story gives the audience credit for having usable imaginations. It is imagination, after all, that keeps the people in the audience inching toward the edge of their seats. The actors, too, have wrapped their imaginations - and their considerable acting skills - firmly around this haunting tale.

But there's more to this telling than good acting. Well-designed lighting and realistic sound effects help bring this moody and complex script to life in the mind's eye.

The stage play version of The Woman in Black was adapted by Stephen Mallatratt from the novel by Susan Hill. It is one of the longest-running plays ever in London's West End.

Arthur Kipps is a middle-aged attorney who, 30 years earlier, experienced something so horrible that he eventually decides he must write it down and act it out if he is ever to be free of this life-consuming nightmare. The story takes place at Eel Marsh House, at the end of Nine Lives Causeway somewhere on England's dreary East Coast. Alice Drablow recently died old and alone in the house, and she is to be buried nearby.

Young Arthur Kipps is sent from London by his firm to attend the funeral and see to Drablow's personal papers. But nothing goes as Kipps had planned, and he soon finds himself in the middle of a dark, tragic secret. Only the woman in black knows what shuddering fear and unspeakable fate awaits Kipps in his not-so-distant future.

The play continues through Nov. 16 at the Clark Memorial Clubhouse in Clarkdale. Evening performances are scheduled for Nov. 6, 7, 8, 13, 14 & 15 beginning at 7:30. Sunday matinees will be presented Nov. 9 & 16 beginning at 2 p.m.

Ticket prices at the door only are $12 for general admission and $10 for students and seniors (55 and older).

'The Woman in Black' a classic Victorian hauntingBy Philip WrightStaff ReporterTuesday, November 04, 2008

'The Woman in Black' a classic Victorian haunting

By Philip Wright
Staff Reporter

Tuesday, November 04, 2008