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The woman in black
Staged: March 18th - 27th 2021
Civic Playhouse Newcastle
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“The Woman In Black” has been phenomenally successful, both as a novel and as a play. Susan Hill’s book has been translated into several languages, while Stephen Mallatratt's stage adaptation has been playing continuously in London’s West End for a remarkable 30 years. It is the second longest running play on the West End after Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap”.
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The play tells the story of Arthur Kipps, a haunted man, who has hired a young actor to help tell his story to his family and friends of his short time at Eel Marsh House on England’s bleak East Coast. As a junior solicitor Kipps had been sent by his firm’s senior partner to travel up from London to attend the funeral of Mrs Alice Drablow and then sort out all her papers. While there he experienced a haunting so terrifying that it affected him so badly that he needs to finally tell his story.
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“The Woman In Black” treads in the footsteps of the classic ghost story, following the tradition of Charles Dickens and Henry James. It relies on atmosphere, a vivid sense of place, on hints and glimpses and suggestions, on what is shadowy, heard and sometimes only half-seen. Part of the fear that Susan Hill conjures up is a sense that these events could happen to anyone.
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Production Team:
Director - Julie Black
Assitant Director - Nicolette Black
Stage Manager - Graeme Black -
Costume Design - Bev Fewins
Set Design - Graeme Black
Props Design - Jennifer Halliburton
Makeup Design - Jennifer Halliburton
Lighting Design - Jacob Harwood
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Cast:
Arthur Kipps - Patrick Campbell
The Actor - Andrew Black
The Woman - Jennifer Halliburton