Review: The Woman in Black at Main Street Theater

Main Street Theater gives us plenty of chills for these muggy summer nights with its superlative rendition of Stephen Malatratt’s adaptation of Susan Hill’s Victorian Gothic ghost story, The woman in black.

Under the imaginative direction of director Philip Hays and with the help of a team of professional designers of sets (Jodi Bobrovsky), costumes (Paige A. Willson), lighting (Andrew Archer) and especially sound (Shawn W. St. John), the supernatural tale takes on a strange life thanks to the two actors who draw us into this frightening spectral world, Danny Hayes and Ian Lewis. They play off each other with a supernatural force all their own. We are in good hands with these two, even if our own hands may tremble with apprehension as the story progresses and becomes darker and more mysterious.

Years after the events of the play, lawyer Kipps (Hayes) wants to tell his story to his family to rid himself of the curse that has haunted him for years. It must be told, he tells the actor (Lewis) he has hired to help him prepare. They meet in a decrepit Victorian theater with seashell footlights, a dingy proscenium, a red velvet curtain drawn backstage, and props covered in dusty sheets.

The early scenes are played for laughs, the actor rolling his eyes as he tries to bring to life Kipps’s dry reading of his own story. “I’ll make an Irving out of you,” he promises. Slowly, however, by theatrical sleight of hand, the actor assumes the role of young Kipps, while Kipps plays all the other characters: the pony and cart driver, the suspicious locals, the London lawyer. It’s wonderful theatrical magic. (The programme lists Hayes as the actor and Lewis as Kipps, which is a hint of things to come.)

“I don’t believe in ghosts,” the actor who plays Kipps moans. But events soon shake his resolve. Indeed, you see, a woman in black (Callina Anderson in silent mode) appears throughout the film to drive Kipps mad. She is a vengeful fairy, a figure of evil and vengeance, ready to wreak havoc on the innocent who cross her cursed path. Once, she was a single mother who entrusted her son to her sister, Mrs. Drablow of Eel Marsh House.

Wanting to be close to him, she moved into the abandoned Drablow Manor in the marshes, but she was forbidden to tell her son that she was his mother. From the house, she watched as her young son was sucked into the mud by the sudden appearance of the bleak sea mist, the stage fright, and will forever roam the earth seeking vengeance on any poor soul who sees her. Death will surely follow.

This wonderful melodrama tells its strange story with simple theatricality. Two excellent actors at the top of their game (Anderson has nothing to do except make his ghostly appearances), stunning lighting effects, atmospheric sound work and the sure-handed mastery of director Hays, who layers it all with a visual splendor and a moody pace that fits this ghost story like a worm-eaten black lace glove.

The woman in black is certainly the best film of Main Street’s 2023-24 season: a fitting tribute to the power of theater. Regardless, who doesn’t love a good ghost story? Trust me, you won’t find a better one.

The Woman in Black continues through August 11 at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays at the Main Street Theater, 2540 Times Boulevard. For more information, call 713-524-6706 or visit mainstreettheater.com. $39 to $59.