The Woman In Black

About two weeks ago, the Warners took us to go see a fantastic play called The Woman In Black. It's a two-man ghost story (with a few small appearances by one female actor) which is both terrifying and fantastically clever. It's based on a novel which apparently was pretty famous a while ago, but I had never heard of it before.

At any rate, the basic premise is that this lawyer went out to a small British town to set this crazy old widow's affairs in order after she had died and spends a few days in her house by himself... as you can imagine, the house is very, very haunted, and he learns this, much to his dismay. Many years later (this is the start of the play) he feels he has to tell the story to someone, and hires a young, hotshot actor to play the part in a small play that he's putting on (it's a strange sort of play-within-a-play thing that works really well). The majority of the play consists of the first full-through rehearsal of the thing, with the hotshot actor playing the part of the lawyer, and the old lawyer himself playing every other part in the show except for the ghost, the titular Woman In Black.

The show was absolutely terrifying. Like, I mean it. Brilliantly directed, well-acted, and the lighting was unbelievable. I don't want to spoil anything, since it's doing well enough that it is very possible that you might someday get a chance to go see a production of it. If you do get a chance, go to it. It's fantastic.

--Bill