The Woman in Black has been frightening theatre audiences since 1987, and now it continues its scare fest across the UK with it’s tour stopping off this week in Glasgow at the Theatre Royal, playing until Saturday 24th January 2026.
The Woman in Black is based on Susan Hill’s 1983 book of the same name and was adapted to stage by Stephen Mallatratt. An aging Arthur Kipps hires a young actor to help him tell his terrifying ghost story from years ago, using a “play-within-a-play” format where the actor plays younger Kipps, and Kipps plays other characters to recount his experiences. It tells of Kipps’ account of visiting Eel Marsh House to settle the estate of a deceased client, encountering the vengeful spirit of The Woman in Black.
John MacKay brings fragility, light-hearted humour and superb versatility to his portrayal of Mr Kipps. There is the caveat of this character being aware of the performative nature of the storytelling unfolding on stage, with John’s skill of slipping in and out of various characters, this awareness becomes highly entertaining. Yet it doesn’t take away the complexity and nuance these portrayals hold, you still feel the tension, emotion and horror from each character.
Daniel Burke as The Actor grips the audience from the offset with his engaging re-enactment of Mr Kipps’ traumatic history. In act one there is more intrigue and light than that horror, however moments of tension are held well solely by Daniel’s investment in those moments, letting his reaction do the heavy lifting to take the audience with him on the suspense and eeriness of the setting. In the second act, the light is faded by the shade, Daniel compliments the Mise-en-scène this play relies on, by building the tension, by creating apprehension and by making the woman in row E of the dress circle scream in horror as The Woman in Black’s presence draws near.
The storytelling talent of these two performers is really what this production relies on with MacKay and Burke gripping the audience from the offset, setting the tone, building the tension and ultimately terrifying the audience of the Theatre Royal.
There is another performer, one who is key to this story… although I’m afraid to mention them, with the consequences that come if acknowledging their presence. All I would say is that there was a spine-chilling portrayal on that stage during the press evening, not for the faint-hearted.
Stephen Mallatratt’s adaptation of Susan Hill’s book is timeless, with a poignant formula and well-crafted dialogue. The audience are hooked on the story as well as the scares, you can’t help but resonate with the intricate detail of the setting and proceedings, which truly grips the audience’s imagination, taking the bare stage as a canvas and imagining the eerie atmosphere of Eel Marsh. Robin Herford’s direction does well to help build to this, rather than an overly complex set; the play is stripped back to allow the actors to drive the narrative and give the audience creative license to lean into their fears, imagining descriptive moments with some SFX to help push the fear. The only complaint is that a habit of 1987 is evident with consistent blackouts, rather than transitioning more naturally or with something a bit less energy-dipping. That being said, Kevin Sleep’s lighting design as analogue as it may be, is very effective for giving the production a classic feel, and to contemporize the lighting may make it feel overly complex. The minimalism gives the illusion that this play doesn’t have the potential to pull back and create a hellishly scary visual, however, this is quickly shown to be untrue in act two, as the lighting creates terrifying visuals and helps build the tension, with audience members quickly un-nerving as Kipps explores Eel Marsh House.
Michael Holt’s stripped-back yet very clever set design works very effectively in allowing the cast to utilise various objects and pieces of set to take on different entities. It is genius and does well to capture each vignette without expensive and clunky set. Furthermore, Holt’s costume design in this production brings eloquent detail, and haunting silhouettes with the simple changing of coats, blazers and hats.
Finally, some of the most effective scares in this production are down to Sebastian Frost’s sound design, which is simply terrifying. Making almost all audience members jump, and look in a certain direction.
The Woman in Black is one of the best ghost stories to grace the stage, with audiences almost 40 years on still hooked at the haunting of Eel Marsh House and the stagecraft presented in each production.
Get tickets here – https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/the-woman-in-black/theatre-royal-glasgow/
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