The director turns the small stage into a haunted space by tapping into all the history of this old theatre. The concept of the stage is intriguing.
The result is site-specific enough to turn memory lane into an alleyway of nightmares
The characters in the play are Young Arthur Kipps, Kegworth, Jennet Humphries (the woman in black)
The two characters before the inner play began.
‘Young actor’
‘Arthur Kipps.
Arthur Kipps – Hires an actor to help tell his family and friends a ghost story from his past obviously still haunted by it.
Young actor- The young actor does his best to portray Arthur Kipps. The ‘script’ given demanded some explaining on the setting but when the ‘actor’ takes over and re-enacts the story to an imaginary audience the story has the real audience drawn in.
Mr Jerome- Nervous around Arthur because Arthur want to leave Eel Mars- Mrs Drablow’s home an then he would have to send someone else and is reluctant to this and tells him that no one wants to take up Kipp’s job – It’s here that a weird appearance is known.
Young Arthur Kipps- a junior solicitor, is ordered by his firm's senior partner to travel up from London to attend her funeral and then sort out all her legal papers. His task is a forlorn one, and at first Kipps is quite oblivious of the tragic secrets that lie behind the house.
Jannet Humphries – the woman with the wasted face, the woman in black, the woman locals will not talk about or acknowledge her existence unknown why she is there in the haunting she slowly reveals her identity - and her terrible purpose.
The characters were successful in their own way no matter how bug or small the parts they each added suspense as clues were dripped into the play.
The actor plays young Arthur Kipps, with Kipps himself acting out all the other character his younger self had encounter. A play within in a play fantastically played. In the beginning it starts of a little slow but that’s what makes the outcome how it is. The actor is gripping compelling and general stage present is breath taking, both the actors create distinct character with vibrant colour and detail despite the amusing scene in the beginning where the older Kipps claims he cannot act!
The way the older Kipps changed his voice and even facial expressions and body language (when being Mr Daily – carriage scene) it was very realistic, this helped make the scene more believable.
Even with the minor props but sound effects were used without over doing it. The attitude in the carriage scene wasn’t quite horror yet built mystery especially to the build up where the person driving the carriage is actually dead! The actors’ fears were portrayed into the audience. The house scenes also the houses scenes were so effective when the young Arthur Kipps could hear noises and then saw the woman in black.
The climax was when he entered the child’s bedroom and saw a rocking chair, screams were heard – this affected the audience significantly; a disturbing scene, emotional, lots of impact that scene had great effects, particularly at the start of the scene when the two men are in the house and they can’t see her but the audience can; this created a bond between her and the audience, the confusion when she moves things around, again the audience knows what’s happening but the men do not. The manic rocking of the chair put an immense edge on the play making it spine tingling indeed, it was this part that made tension to play.
The wicked twist which mystifies the audience when the characters are now ‘themselves’ and the ‘young actor’ says how amazed that Kipps managed to find an actress to play the woman in black , Kipps then explain that he invited no woman to the play;- this is a great shock to the ‘stage system’ as that wasn’t expected at all.
Overall, the set is minimal, stool, two chairs, a box and a large wicker basket – simplicity at its finest, fast scene changes were able to be done most ably. The sound effects were what they were- effective, the screams, the versatile lighting, dry ice and greatly preformed story – made it worth watching.
Being seated in the stalls as opposed to the circle was great and the intensity was most felt, emotions were felt first the fright was felt first almost giving the feeling of being in it.
