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THE WOMAN IN BLACK

The Woman in Black is really scary.
Luring you into the tale is Arthur Kipps who experienced an unspeakable horror and an actor who will help him present the story on stage.  They seem like such nice men too and the first act seems to mull around how they are going to handle the emotions of fear through the techniques of acting and the mechanics of  theater.
Such details can be distracting to the story.  Restlessness feeds impatiences to get on with it.  So does the belief that this will be really scary.  After all they have shown us the tricks that produce the theatrics of sound and light to enhance their performance.
We have all read horror tales from Edgar Allan Poe to Stephen King.  We are used to ghosts and devils, vampires and aliens.  All of this knowledge sets us up to dare the play to scare us.
And then it does.  At the most unexpected moment.  It felt like I was in an electric chair as all the molecules in my body shook.  It was several minutes before I could settle in to my self again.  All the while the actor  and Arthur Kipps  continued undisturbed rehearsing the play.
Book, movie, long running play on the East End, this “sad tale’s best for winter” at the Lansburgh was REALLY SCARY!
At the Shakespeare Theatre Company, December 2019.

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