Review: THE WOMAN IN BLACK Haunts Main Street Theater

THE WOMAN IN BLACK by Stephen Malatratt is a 1987 stage adaptation of a 1983 novel by Susan Hill. The conceit of the theatrical show is that we see “a play with a play,” where Arthur Kipps has employed an actor to dramatize recent events he has suffered through. It’s an eerie stage performance tour de farce that shows you what live performances do best; they tell a story in a compelling and human way without tangible places. It’s about the power of imagination and fear. The Main Street Theater in Rice Village has resurrected this gothic ghost story just in time to chill down a rather hot and humid summer. 

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There are only three proper actors in the entire show, and at first, you almost wonder how much a trio can get away with to be scary. Danny Hayes plays the “man it all happened to” Arthur Kipps. His “every man” character takes on all the supporting roles, such as those of scared villagers and caretakers, and the actor does a brilliant job of going from an amateur at the start to a polished performer once the story gets going. Ian Lewis plays “the actor,” a vainglorious thespian who soon realizes he may well be in over his head when the story reaches its peak. Ian struts and preens to great effect in the early passages but then settles into a more authentic persona once the gothic gets going. And, of course, we have Callina Anderson taking on the role of what well could be a specter or apparition or just an actress as THE WOMAN IN BLACK. She is perfectly chilling without many lines or significant time onstage. But you feel her presence throughout the play. 

THE WOMAN IN BLACK relies on a TON of dialogue, often fired off at a rapid head-spinning pace. They are telling a ghost story, and director Phillip Hays guides the cast to a perfect pace. It all plays out like a supernatural aria, and everyone is on par and along for the dark ride. These three figure out how to fill the space with enough dread and mystery to make THE WOMAN IN BLACK work in a three-quarter thrust space.      

This show is a technical dare that Main Street Theater handles with panache. Most of the haunting is achieved through practical effects that the production has to design from scratch. The setting is in what feels like an abandoned Victorian theatre hall, and the dilapidated stage from Jodi Brobovsky evokes the right level of dinge to ensure there could be a haunting. Andrew Archer’s lighting design handles the spooky quite well with well-placed strobes and blood-red pinpoint spots at the right time, and Shawn W. St John’s sound design is superbly scary. Rodney Walsworth’s set dressing and ghastly props flesh out the rest of the world we are worried about residing in. With the audience on all but one side, it’s hard to create effective scares, but the actors and crew work it all out with each other. 

Sometimes, the show does feel a touch over-written. It’s a slow burn that takes its time to really get going, and certainly, this has been the case since it debuted thirty-seven years ago. My advice is not to get bogged down with the story’s attention to detail from the start. A lot of information is flung out at the audience, and you need not track it throughout the show. We will understand everything once the company reaches the core of what is happening. And what a satisfying final few scenes it truly is. Just get ready for the ride! 

THE WOMAN IN BLACK is fun, spooky, and very well realized by Main Street Theater's cast and tech crew. For a summer chill, you really can’t beat it. They have orchestrated and designed this piece to remind us that imagination is sometimes the most terrifying part of being human. And that grief can cross generations of time. It’s a thinking man’s horror; the show is just the scare you need to have fun. 

THE WOMAN IN BLACK runs through August 13th at the Main Street Theater location in Rice Village. Evening shows start at 7:30 pm, and matinees are at 3:00 pm on Sundays. Plenty of restaurants around Rice Village, and parking ranges from free street spots to paid-for areas. Tickets are available through the link below, the theater’s website, and by calling (713) 524-6706. 

Photo taken by Andrew Ruthven

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