The Woman In Black
Adapted by Stephen Mallatratt from the novel by Susan HillDirected by Robin Herford
National Tour - Opened New Victoria Theatre, Woking 29th September 1998
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Frank Finlay ... Arthur Kipps
Ian Reddington ... The Actorn
"It's hard to fault a production which has one of the theatre greats and an equally strong supporting actor taking on the only two parts in this gripping thriller.
With a set consisting of a few old dusty sheets, a large basket, a few greatcoats and the odd chair, everyone involved in this production deserves high praise for creating scenes of quite manic terror.
The great Frank Finlay plays Arthur Kripps a man haunted by his past while Ian Reddington, the former market manager in the BBC's EastEnders, is the actor who becomes Frank Finlay's character and recreates the scenes which have terrorised his life.
These two equally strong performers create scenes of quite chilling fear which had last night's audience gripping the sides of their seats and laughing manically after they'd been scared half to death.
Lasting just two hours The Woman in Black is theatre at its best. It's a great tale which simply mesmerised and the performances from Messers Finlay and Reddington were tremendous - confident, skilfull and slick.
The show is best summed up by the very real sense of theatre created, so much so in fact, that I was genuinely afraid for the imaginary dog and pony and trap conjured up on stage".
Palace Theatre, Manchester
The Bolton News
