WHEN LOVE REFUSES TO DIE

THE HAUNTING OF THE WOMAN IN BLACK

- By Shaleeka Jayalath

There are ghost stories that startle you for a moment and then politely release you back into the safety of your own well-lit life. And then there are ghost stories that linger. The Woman in Black, the gothic tale written by Dame Susan Hill in 1983 and later adapted for the stage by Stephen Mallatratt, belongs firmly to the latter category. It does not simply frighten; it unsettles. It does not rely on spectacle; it relies on suggestion. And in doing so, it reminds us that the most enduring terrors are those we conjure ourselves.

In the hands of Cue Theatre, this stark two-man play becomes something more than imported gothic horror. It becomes an exercise in imagination, restraint and trust - trust in text, in actors, and in an audience willing to lean into the dark. Directed by the company's founder Ranga Jayaratne, this production revisits a play first staged by Cue Theatre in 2019. But Jayaratne is quick to insist that this is not a mere repeat performance. The set will shift. The rhythms will alter. Most crucially, the actors inhabiting the roles are different, and in an atmospheric play such as this, difference changes everything.

At its core, The Woman in Black is a "good ghost story", according to its director. Yet what Jayaratne loves most is not the fright; rather, it is the way the play carries you away with your own belief. Theatre here is stripped of glitz and glamour. There are no cinematic tricks to hide behind. Instead, there is the fragile contract between performer and spectator, where the former enacts just enough to be met halfway with the latter's imagination. In an age intoxicated by digital excess, there is something almost rebellious about that.