'Woman in Black'- drama coursework
Response phase The 'Woman in Black' was written by Susan Hill in 1983, but was first published by Hamish Hamilton in 1983 as a hardback book. Most of the ideas for the 'Woman in Black' came from M.R James. In 1989, The 'Woman in Black' went onto television as a film thanks to a television writer called Nigel Kneal. In 1987, it became a stage play, and was first performed in Scarborough at the Theatre-by-the-sea. Then in 1989, the stage play moved to the Fortune theatre in London's west end. A young solicitor goes to stay at a house on the Nine lives causeway, and experiences lots of strange and scary noises and haunting as he goes through some of Mrs Drablows papers. The main haunting noise he hears is of a horse and cart that crashed, followed on by the severe screaming of a young child and a woman. One day Mr Kipps goes to a funeral, and sees a woman dressed in black with a pale and wasted face, standing amongst a group of young children. Mr Kipps realises there is more to Alice Drablow then he thought. In Crythin Gifford, nobody is happy to talk about the history of Mrs Drablow or the woman in black, for when they tried to find out, it caused them great pain and fear. When the solicitor talks to Mr Kipps, he finds out that Jennet Humfrye, sister to Mrs Drablow had a child, but could not look after it. So the baby boy was adopted by Mrs Drablow and her husband, who both
Woman In Black
The Woman In Black. The Woman In Black, although quite scary, was on the whole very entertaining. I think that the second half of the play was more surprising than the first, as the first didn't really include many shocking scenes, or sudden actions. It didn't show much of the actual woman either, but this could have been an advantage as if the woman was shown often, it would be less realistic. Also, I think that the audience may have accustomed to her being there, and therefore, wouldn't be frightened of her. The actual 'scary element' would have to be the shock of the sudden actions of the sound, lighting and actors. I think that this was the best part of the play as much of it was just talking between the two main characters in the play, which eventually made me feel calmer and not so afraid, which isn't too good as the play was meant to be a horror story. The actors and director of The "Woman In Black" had complete power and control over the audience's reactions and emotions. For our Drama GCSE we went to see "The Woman in Black", . The play was showing at the Fourtune theatre and was based on a book by Susan Hill; which was adapted by Stephen Mallatratt. The "Woman In Black" is about a middle aged solicitor called Arthur Kipps, who years earlier had lost an infant son following some eerie incidents in an English town. In hopes of getting rid of his personal demons and
woman in black essay
Our GCSE Drama group went to see 'The Woman In Black' at the Fortune Theatre, London on the 24th March 2009. The play is written by Stephen Mallatratt and the performance was put on by PW Productions. It is set in the early 20th century, on the eerie marshes of the east coast. Basic Plot The main concept that the audience have to immediately realise, is that 'The Woman In Black' is a play within a play, so there are only two actors: Arthur Kipps, played by Andrew Jarvis and a young actor who is not given a name, played by Timothy Watson. As the play begins, the audience learn that Mr Kipps is a troubled, old man who has had to deal with a terrifying experience which he cannot forget. He believes that if he can tell his family the story, it will be laid to rest. Mr Kipps hires a small, forgotten theatre in which to tell his story, as well as a young actor to help him in how to tell it. However, it soon becomes clear that Mr Kipps has never acted before, so in order to tell the story, the young actor and Mr Kipps switch roles. Mr Kipps uses multirole to play all the different characters he has met. This is essential because he is the one that has actually met them, so can portray their behaviour accurately. Multirole is a method created by Bertolt Brecht which enables the actor to detach themselves from the play and the character. It is important in The Woman In Black,
Woman in Black
The differences between the humans characters and the ghost Introduction In this essay I will critically evaluate five main aspects between being human and a ghost in the novel, 'The Woman in Black'. I will cover the differences within: relationships, methods of interaction, appearance, movements and emotions. I will evidence how the author portrays the human characters and the ghost and to also draw upon the dog Spider, all of which are used to enhance the atmosphere and feelings within her novel. Relationships There are several relationship differences between the ghost and the humans. This is shown in the opening chapter by Arthur as he describes his affection for his second wife Esme, and states 'I would not have wished for anything to ruffle the surface of that calm, untroubled sea'. The author has used this metaphor to strongly describe to the reader how happy and fulfilled Arthur is within his life. In chapter three, Arthur meets with a stranger, Mr Daily. They converse and, through this interaction, they realise they have a connection with the deceased, Mrs Drablow. Arthur establishes that he may be the only one at the funeral when Mr Daily mentioned that Mrs Drablow lived alone and may have made her 'grow eccentric'. Arthur being a rational man expresses 'you're not going to start telling me strange tales of lonely
'Woman in Black'
'Woman in Black' The story of Arthur's haunting by Jennet Humphrey is told with an effective narrative technique. The most obvious device employed, initially, by Susan Hill, is to tell the story in flashback. As soon as Arthur decides to commit his story to paper we leave the present narrative. In 'Christmas Eve', the opening chapter of the story starts full of 'Cheerfulness and bustle'. Susan Hill interests the reader when she sets up a happy atmosphere. The peaceful beginning contrasts well with the dramatic ending of violence, suddenness and 'cold fear', which seems to be dealt with briefly to prevent pain for Arthur. At the beginning of the novel the writer drops seeds that point to the future and give hints of something dreadful to come, 'Long shadow of the past', 'woven into my fibres'. Hill is signalling that something awful has happened that will always be with Arthur. This leaves many unanswered questions for the reader to think about, 'what has happened in the past to make Arthur so unhappy?' Further on in the novel the reader is introduced to Stella, Arthur's fiancée. We are left to wonder what happened to her and how come he ends up happily married to Esme. Arthur's story is labelled not, 'casual entertainment,' but a story of, 'haunting and evil, fear and confusion, horror and tragedy'. The cosy atmosphere becomes slightly soured. At the end of chapter one
Woman In black
In Susan Hill's novel The Woman in Black, Hill uses many techniques to hold the interest of the reader. The Genre of the novel is a ghost story. The main character is a lawyer from London called Arthur Kips. In the first paragraph Hill sets the scene by talking about the weather. It is a terrible storm. The first technique that is used is onomatopoeia, and a personification, an example of this is on page 94 "Moaning" and "Whistling". This makes us the reader feel that something is out there trying to get us. This makes us also feel like we are there and we can sense how scary it is. All the way through out the chapter Hill always comments about the weather, this makes the novel exciting as you can feel that something is going to happen. In Hills novel the second technique that is used is simile an example of this is 'the house felt like a ship at sea'. This makes us the reader imagines. This simile makes us the reader think that the house is rocking and shaking and being unstable like a ship at sea. Another simile is 'hearing the wind rage round like a lion. This makes the wind furious as a lion can be very scary. Hill has used onomatopoeia 'the gale that came roaring'. This makes it scary for the reader by using the word roaring. On page 95 Hill has used rhetorical question 'perhaps it was the woman in black', 'Had Mrs Drablow harboured. Hill uses another simile on
Evaluation of the Woman in Black
Evaluation of The Woman In Black On the 26/6/05 we went to see a performance called the women in black with all the pupils who chose drama as their gcse. We made our way to the coach and got ready to leave. The coach drove into London and everyone was very enthusiastic about seeing this play as it was supposed to be scary and most people there hadn't been to the theatre. First we went to the theatre where we were given a preview of how they used lighting and sound on the stage. I was incredibly interested at how the lighting was such a big part in a performance! It affected the whole mood of the audience meaning that the sound and lighting director can control our mood before the actors even get on the stage. This I think is vital for the actors, for example if the lights were very bright and you were trying to pull of a scary scene it just wouldn't work or it would be very hard to pull off. But if the lights were dim or even on black out then the mood would change, darkness is a good tool to use, but used too often can ruin a play. Darkness played a major part in the play; it was used two or three times, but only one being used to scare the audience. This created tension as sometimes, nothing scary would happen when the lights got dim. Sounds were also used with the lighting to create or make you use your imagination on the stage. Different sounds were played, but I found
The woman in black
Theatre review of Woman in Black By Christopher weaver A young actor is asked to help the older Mr Kipps to tell a "story that must be told". The story sees young lawyer Arthur Kipps being sent to the funeral of his client Mrs Alice Drablow. After the death of Alice Drablow, a woman with no friends, no family, and no visitors to her lonely, dark home, Arthur Kipps, a young lawyer, travels to the foggy village of Crethyn Griffin to sort out all of Alice Drablow's papers. On arriving in the small town, Kipps gains an unnerving sense of horror. He questions people about Alice Drablow and Eel Marsh House, yet comes away with an even greater sense of unease as the people turn away and only hint about a dark figure lurking in the shadows. Haunted for years by his chilling meeting with the woman in black, Kipps employs a young actor to re-tell the grim events surrounding Alice Drablow's funeral, hoping to exorcise the woman's evil grip. As the tale progresses, however, reality begins to blur until what once seemed real becomes untrue, and what once seemed a horrific suggestion becomes a tragic story from beyond the grave. But at the end, the truth spills out that the old Mr Kipps didn't plan the ghost to appear. The two men have different reasons for telling the story because maybe the actor wanted to become famous by Mr Kipp's play or maybe has something to do with the woman in
The Woman in Black
The Woman in Black The venue for the woman in black was the fortune theatre in London only 100 yrds from Covent Garden. The Theatre from outside appears small old and slightly decrepit, inside there was no attempt to prepare one for or indeed set the atmosphere for the nature of the play in question. The Fortune is notoriously small and the intimacy between actor and audience was brought out well by the fact that the furthest seats can only have been 15m away. The theatre is of Victorian style with ornate decorations and red carpets and seating, this instantly transport one to the era in which the play is set in the 19th century. The stage is open for the audience to see before the play starts and is set out as the stage in a small theatre, a basket for props, two chairs, a rack of costumes and buckets catching water from a leaky roof. The most important part of the set though was the gauze at the back of the stage separating a separate scene behind and revealing it hen needed using lighting. This combination of props an structure conveys the location strongly to the audience without being so defined that it is not possible to change the scene. The time we waited before the play actually started was around 15 and contrary to usual procedure for plays there was no kind of background music which gave a slightly eerie edge to the wait. The play started in the theatre depicted
Theatre Evaluation of, The Woman In Black
GCSE Drama Coursework Theatre Evaluation of, The Woman In Black On December 11th 2001 we went to go and see a production of Woman In Black at the Lowry Centre in Salford, Manchester. The play was a thriller based on a story of man that he had to explain, and needed to tell some one about his experience. This man went to a theatre and asked for help in telling this story. Two male actors retold the story in the theatre using the theatrical effects available. It was set on a proscenium stage. When we were first introduced to the stage setting all we saw were drapes hanging at the back, which were later to be turned into gauze to help portray the later more frightening scenes in the house. The only props on the stage were a large basket, a hat stand, a clothes rail and a chair (later on in the play a door was introduced). Throughout the play these were the only props used, but with great effect. Each prop was brought into a scene and used in a different way. The gauze was used for projective images. This gave a chilling effect for example when the image of a cross was shone on to it. It was also used to create other images like a graveyard, the old house and also other parts of the house, like when you saw the woman in black on the stairs. The use of gauze had a more terrifying effect on what we were witnessing. There were only two actors in the play, but they played numerous
