The Woman in Black (at the Fortune Theatre, London) is a stage adaptation of the book of the same name by Stephen Mallatratt. 

Newly-qualified lawyer Arthur Kipps is despatched to Crythin Gifford, a small town on the east coast of England, to attend to the affairs of a mysterious Mrs Alice Drablow, who lived a solitary life in Eel Marsh House at the edge of the town.

The house is at the end of Nine Lives Causeway and cut off at high tide, and surrounded by marshland over which sea frets can appear without warning, creating an eerie and haunting abode.

Kipps arrives and attends the old lady’s funeral where he soon begins to notice the local’s reluctance to speak of her, and at the funeral he notices a woman dressed all in black with a ghostly, wasted face.

Using just two actors plus occasional appearances from the Woman in Black, the play cleverly uses the guise of an older, haunted, Kipps employing the services of a young actor to play out scenes in a script he has written to help exorcise the demons he has had since his time at Eel Marsh House.

The story of the mysterious old lady and the secret and terrifying history of Alice Drablow unfolds with chilling consequences until the unfortunate Mr Kipps learns the full, terrible story. Looking back and retelling of the events helps him come to terms with events.

But will the demons finally be laid to rest?

One of the longest running plays in London’s theatre land, The Woman in Black is a superb adaptation and well worth a visit to the Fortune Theatre.