THE WOMAN IN BLACK Announce New West End Cast

Stuart Fox (Woman in Mind, Vaudeville; The Normal Heart, Royal Court and Albery; Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Fortune Theatre) and Joseph Chance (Jeeves & Wooster, UK and Far East Tour; Wallander) have been cast in the unanimously acclaimed stage production of The Woman In Black. Fox returns to play Arthur Kipps having first played the role two years ago.

Celebrating its 27th anniversary in the West End earlier this year, Stephen Mallatratt's adaptation of Susan Hill's best-selling novel has terrified over 7 million theatregoers since it first opened. Robin Herford's gripping production is a brilliantly successful study in atmosphere, illusion and controlled horror.

The production's huge popularity has reached a global level, having toured to the United States, South America, Tokyo and Singapore. In 2012, Susan Hill's novel The Woman In Black was released as a major motion picture, starring Daniel Radcliffe, which became the highest grossing British horror film in 20 years. The sequel to that film, The Woman In Black 2: Angel Of Death, came out in 2014.

Director Robin Herford comments, I have lost count of the number of times I have rehearsed a new cast for this play since I directed the very first pair of actors for its world premiere. Here in the West End, I change the cast every nine months; a process which I used to view with a certain trepidation but which I now welcome. Actors like to be doing different things and respond to different challenges and this is a healthy process. To perform a play eight times a week, for forty weeks, is a daunting challenge. When that play has only two speaking parts, the challenge is even greater. At the end of forty weeks, the outgoing actors can give the play into the hands of a new pairing of actors, and this is to give the play a new lease of life. The actors bring to it their own imaginations and intelligences, as well as their emotional responses to the characters and the story.

Stephen Mallatratt's adaptation of Susan Hill's best-selling novel tells the story of a lawyer obsessed with a curse that he believes has been cast over him and his family by the spectre of a 'Woman in Black'. He engages a young actor to help him tell his story and exorcise the fear that grips his soul. It begins innocently enough, but as they delve further into his darkest memories, they find themselves caught up in a world of eerie marshes and moaning winds. The borders between make believe and reality begin to blur and the flesh begins to creep.

The production is directed by Robin Herford, with designs by Michael Holt, lighting by Kevin Sleep and sound by Gareth Owen. The UK tour runs concurrently with the West End production.

Tickets are available from £19.50 to £49.50 (premium seats are also available), http://www.atgtickets.com/shows/the-woman-in-black/fortune-theatre/.

Photo courtesy of Tristram Kenton