WEBLINKS
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 |  | Reviewed by Victoria Minett of the Coventry and Warkwickshire website team
When Susan Hill penned the old-fashioned ghost story, The Woman in Black, she could never have imagined that Stephen Mallatratt's stage adaptation of the tale would become one of the longest-running plays in the country.
The performance at the Belgrade Theatre showed why this masterpiece of story-telling in theatre has become so enduring.
For The Woman in Black is a work of genius, a masterpiece of a scare-fest which would leave even those with the most cast-iron disposition trembling like a particularly wobbly jelly and when all got up to leave the theatre, there was a sea of faces as pale as the spookiest spectre.
And yet, this extreme scariness comes from one of the simplest stagings you will ever see - just two main characters and a very basic set but brilliant use of lighting, dry ice and sound effects bring the eerie Eel House and the Woman in Black to life in spectacular style.
 The atmosphere amongst the rapt audience was incredibly tense as all jumped as one - some even screamed, and it is as rare as hen's teeth to get that kind of reaction in the theatre.
 | 听 | Vic Minett
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The story began with middle-aged solicitor Arthur Kipps (Robert Demeger) arriving at a theatre to ask the help of The Actor, Damien Matthews, as he wants to tell family and friends of a story "he needs to tell".
Sharing the terrible tale of his experiences while working in the north east of England, he believed, would mean exorcism and he arrived at the theatre with five-hours worth of prose, which did nothing to impress The Actor!
However, taken by the tale, The Actor helped by turning Kipps' manuscript into a performance and adopting the role of Kipps the younger, while Kipps played the characters he met along the way on his strange and terrible journey.
The opening exchanges in the theatre were beautifully played in comic style and this touch of light humour occasionally popped up through the play - providing much-needed relief from the tension of the tale.
| 听 |  | The poster from the TV adaptation of the book
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We saw, acted out, young Kipps being sent to the salt marsh flats of the north east where stands Eel House, home of the recently deceased Alice Drablow so he can represent the firm at her funeral and go through her personal papers and effects.
When he arrived in town, he got many strange reactions from folk when they realised he was working at Eel House on the Drablow case - but nothing was stranger than the gaunt, black-clad woman who mysteriously appears at the funeral and then in the Drablow family burial ground.
Who is she and why won't anyone even acknowledge that she exists? To reveal more would spoil the story, for the early surprise - for Kipps and the audience - was one of the most terrifying moments of the play.
it took time for the shocked audience to pull themselves together and I, for one, was still trembling in the car park and on the drive home
| 听 | Vic Minett
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Both Demeger's and Matthews' performances were nothing short of stunning. Demeger brought amazing pathos to the elder Kipps and also managed deftly to bring the other characters to life with just the change of a jacket or hat.
The charismatic Matthews was also amazing, relaying Kipps' fear with an almost uncomfortable realism - and he genuinely looked as if the twist at the end was as much a surprise to him as it was to the audience.
This was, without doubt, one of the best pieces of theatre I have ever seen. The atmosphere amongst the rapt audience was incredibly tense as all jumped as one - some even screamed, and it is as rare as hen's teeth to get that kind of reaction in the theatre.
The applause at the end was muted as it took time for the shocked audience to pull themselves together and I, for one, was still trembling in the car park and on the drive home. It's truly unmissable theatre, so catch it if you can.
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