The Woman in Black Review Essay -- Drama

The Woman in Black ReviewUpon the arrival in London my anticipation was high. My firstimpression of the Fortune Theatre was it was a real old(a) Victorianbuilding, very small and slightly ragged. Upon entering it felt verycramped and made you feel claustrophobic. The atmosphere was eerie dueto the old style of the building. This was particularly effective asthe forgather was set in the Victorian period. This made you feel as if youwere in the past. excessively the narrow stairway and small seating areacreated effect. Before the move starts there is no bumground musicplayed to set a scene or consider in the audiences mind. The play startswithout warning and lights go down and we are straight into the story.The play is set in a theatre and the audience see the actorsrehearsing a manuscript to an empty crowd. At first the older actorwas reading his story as if he was an appalling actor. This technique substance abused was effective and gave rough comic relief at the start of the play. He mumbled his words without emotion which was in total contrastto the younger actor. The younger actor was very announce andpronounced his words properly, both characters spoke with poshaccents. By doing this it lulled the audience in to an al around falsesense of security. Fans blew into the theatre to make the ambience gelid and chilling.Diagram of the StageThe audience were seated in front of the stage. This was so the wholeaudience would all see the play in the same way. Also this wouldensure the woman in black wouldnt be able to be spotted. The set wasopen and most things on the stage were shown. There was a clothes rackwhich was covered, a wicker basket which was closed and some metalbuckets. There was a door which was shut but we did not cognise to whereit would lead. However during the play we discovered a whole newdimension to the stage. Behind a gauze there was another part of thestage. If this had been shown some of the fictive element would havebeen lost as we wouldnt be surprised to see it. Also the fact theonly time the audience saw the back of the stage was when the actorsthemselves were present there. This would link the audience to theactor and heighten the personal bond.Spotlights were used a lot in this production. It persuaded theaudience to focus on iodine area of the stage. It also gave a creepyeffect, as you c... ... something bad to happen. After theloud, unexpected sounds there were many long pauses, which added tothe sinister atmosphere. In my opinion this was the most effective useof sound.By the end of the play there was still a disturbing ambience as Iwalked away. I had thoroughly enjoyed the play and was suitablyscared. Any more and I may not have been able to sleep. I took awaymany aspects of acting, which could be useful in the future. The useof silence and torches in the darkness were some of my favourites. Theplay was enjoyable and funny but also terrorizing. One of the mostamusing parts was the dog bird of passag e scene. This was hard to act as theywere pretending there was a dog but it was done with the utmost ease.It was funny how the older man kicked the dog byword it does what Isay. If I was a critic for a magazine my short caption would readThe Woman in Black is a play with a distressing plot, of ghastlyghostly terror. Set in the Victorian times it sends a feeling ofemptiness and solitude through you, nevertheless an overt firstchoice for taking the young ones to see, to appreciate and learn fromthe immaculate actors and use of stage crew