Chilled to the bone by a good old ghost story

THE WOMAN IN BLACK Theatre Royal Bath

- Nancy Connolly

THE outside of the Theatre Royal Bath was packed with queues of secondary school pupils and their teachers keeping them in line for the opening night of Susan Hill’s famous ghost story The Woman in Black.

The spooky story has captivated teenagers for years ~ it is on the curriculum for English in secondary schools - and the youngsters were excited and boisterous in the queue.

Who doesn’t love to be scared out of their wits on a cold, dark night at Christmas?

After a fairly slow start (I always feel the opening scene in Stephen Mallatratt's adaptation could be cut back) the real drama began and we were suddenly on the cold, deathly marshes in an isolated, haunted old house surrounded by water.

With just two actors, and of course the ghost, earth-shattering sound and atmospheric lighting our imagination was assaulted.

It is amazing what can be achieved by such simple devices, no special effects, no technology, just a good old-fashioned yarn told masterfully.