Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The long-running London hit THE WOMAN IN BLACK gets an intimate staging at the McKittrick Hotel

• By drediman
• January 28, 2020
• No Comments

David Acton and Ben Porter in Stephen Mallatratt’s “The Woman in Black” at the McKittrick Hotel. Photo by Jenny Anderson.

Last night at the McKittrick Hotel, I finally attended a performance of Stephen Mallatratt’s adaptation of Susan Hill’s ghost story The Woman in Black. At 30-years-old, the play – which tells the story of a spectre that haunts a remote English town – is one of the longest-running hits in London, where it continues to draw audiences at the Fortune Theatre in the West End. The current New York staging at the McKittrick’s atmospheric Club Car returns the play to its more intimate roots (before transferring to a proper West End house, Mr. Mallatratt’s play premiered in an English pub, which the Club Car closely replicates).

As with the most effective ghost stories, The Woman in Black is rich on suggestion and psychological terror, rather than graphic depictions of blood and gore. Those familiar with the paranoia of Victorian gothic horror (e.g., Henry James’ Turn of the Screw) will immediately be on familiar footing. Despite the potentially run-of-the-mill plot, Mr. Mallatratt’s stage version smartly adds a layer that theatricalizes the underlying novel, giving the piece a first-person immediacy (no spoilers here!) that provides audiences thrills unique to the live theater-going experience.

Director Robin Herford does a brilliant job of re-calibrating the piece for the McKittrick’s cozy Club Car. The effect gives the production a feeling of curling up by the fireplace, thereby heightening the integral storytelling aspect of the play. The “two” person cast is exceptional. Both David Action and Ben Porter are veteran British actors who are no strangers to the play (both are reprising their roles from the West End). Their ripping performances confidently ensure that the New York edition of The Woman in Black provides the requisite thrills that it has promised for decades.

RECOMMENDED

THE WOMAN IN BLACK
Off-Broadway, Play
The McKittrick Hotel
2 hours (including intermission)
Through March 8