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"The Woman in Black" arrives for its regional premiere with Kentucky Shakespeare carrying a heavy weight of expectation. Opening in London in 1989 and only just closing in March 2023 with 13,232 performances, it is the second-longest-running non-musical play in West End history. Only Agatha Christie’s "The Mousetrap" beats it.
And people in the U.S. have been talking about it for years. A friend who saw it in London several years ago has dreamt about staging it ever since. Someday he will undoubtedly get his chance, but not before this Kentucky Shakespeare production introduces the play to Louisville.
What is all of the fuss? In truth, the play is not innovative. The secret sauce of "The Woman in Black" is that it is a highly traditional telling of a spooky story, one that trusts the basic stagecraft for its effects. It is talky, clever in its use of language, and most of the time entirely reliant on the performances of two actors, one playing a variety of characters and the other a solitary role.
Except that is not precisely true. There is a layer of metatheatricality to give the sauce flavor. The action begins with Arthur Kipps (Jon Huffman) stolidly reading his story before being interrupted by The Actor (Zachary Burrell), whom he has employed to advise him in his intended “performance” before a group of family and close friends. The thespian pushes Kipps to become as good as Irving, referring to the great Victorian-era English stage actor Henry Irving, while Kipps is reluctant to achieve such grandiloquence.
Stephen Mallatrat, adapting a book by Susan Hill published in 1989, carefully shifts between different realities and transference of identity. It’s been done before, but Mallatrat’s play-within-a-play construction and language are beautifully managed, and the slight note of confusion serves to keep the audience on its toes and paying attention.
As with last fall’s "Enter Ghost," Jesse AlFord’s lighting and Laura Ellis’ sound design are essential here. If either element falters, the show might fail. As The Actor begins to take charge, he introduces recorded sound effects to Kipps. Sound design is often unobtrusive, providing textures that work on the audience without calling attention to itself, but the overt theatrical framework increases the audience’s attention to what they are hearing, and Ellis delivers. Donna Lawrence Downs dresses both men impeccably, and while the spare settings make little demand on Karl Anderson’s talents, they seem perfect.
But the beating heart of any production of this play will certainly always be the work of the two actors, and I can’t imagine a better choice in Louisville than Jon Huffman. From his first moments of awkward (not really) reading through the delightful and well-observed character work of other characters, Huffman is the best kind of old pro. Zachary Burrell struts with relish in The Actor’s early scenes and carries the weight of a scary story leading man’s exertions with energy and economy.
If "The Woman in Black" suffers from the weight of expectations, that is not a valuable measure of the play. The text is expertly crafted, this production is adroit and confident, and we should not be ashamed of its pleasures if it at times seems old-fashioned. Kentucky Shakespeare continues its tradition of providing the surest bet in Louisville for Halloween-season theatre (if you can get tickets).
The Woman in Black
Adapted by Stephen Mallatrat from the book by Susan Hill
Directed by Matt Wallace
*Several 7 p.m. performances were already sold out at press time.
Editor's Note: The list above originally included incorrect show dates and times.
