“So, Who was she?” – The Woman in Black, Fortune Theatre, London 10.05.2014

After a full month with not attending a single theatre show as currently the main focus was rehearsals for the upcoming show that for once I was in Jesus Christ Superstar with my drama group BATS (Basingstoke Amateur Theatre Society) I started having withdrawals of being in an audience.  So before my week of performing, myself and boyfriend Graham was off to London for a day out of enjoyment, and we all know it takes a lot for me not to go to a theatre show so while on the train journey it was to the ticket websites I went, and knowing that Graham enjoys a good scary film I though The Woman in Black would be a sure bet! I was right, and within minutes I had purchased two tickets for the evening showing of the play in the back of the stalls Row L seats 10, and 9 at £37.50 each.

If you have read through my website then you would have seen that in 2013 in January I had going to Woking to see the tour of this production, so I won’t be going into full detail of story line within this particular blog, but reviewing how different it was to what I had seen before, if you want to read my first blog Here.

I was excited about going to see the production in its home theatre, having been performing here since the year I was born 1989 and has since been running strong! having over 5,000 performances in July 2001. In my original blog I said that the largeness of the theatre caused the intimate scenes of the play to be not of the full extent it could have been, and this is what the Fortune Theatre has, with only seats up to Row L in the stalls and a small circle the theatre is the perfect size for the scary play. Being seated in the back row, but as they did not have any sales for the row in front we were given permission to move forward a row. The viewing wasn’t much different but it still brought us closer to the action on the stage given by the two actors.  The photo shows my view when I was seated, it wasn’t disappointing especially having bought the tickets that day.

Tonight’s cast was as follows:

Arthur Kipps – Stuart Fox

The Actor – Gwynfor Jones.

Both performers were amazing, and just like the actors on the tour, were strong throughout telling the terrifying tale. Stuart also bringing in some comic moments from his transition to nervous Lawyer to the strong multi playing actor of each characters from his story. Gwynfor’s portrayal of the actor was brilliant, oblivious of his surroundings just wanting to give the story its full potential, it is amazing that the man who is playing The Actor each night can portray the petrified character each night and not get bored or too noticeable, there must be some trick that the Woman does each night just to help give him something different to react to.

Now the scare factor for myself was not as much as the first time, most likely this could be because I knew the story that was being told, however there were a few moments I had forgot, and it didn’t stop me from jumping and seeking refuge in my boyfriends arm! But in some ways it was enjoyable to watch the reactions of those who have not seen it before, and how they responded to each little bit, drawing closer and closer into the story, and then be shocked by one small event.  Graham being that he was seeing this play for the first time was jumping a lot more that I was, which made me happy as it meant that I had made a good choice in the viewing for the night.

So now seeing this play in its home theatre was a tick on the bucket list for me, as I wanted to see what it brings to the story, and in honesty I think if I had seen this play first at this theatre I may have been a lot more scared, or maybe not, its one of those things you will never know, but I know that I most likely would not be seeing it again anytime soon, unless it was a special occasion night ( I have heard during Halloween things can get a little bit more active, especially with her) But I would not say no if a friend wanted to go and see it, sometimes its fun to watch reactions of others. I do highly recommend it to those who want to go and see it though, it is an amazing story, and something different for those who are particular into musicals.