Sebastian Frost News

What did our critic think of THE WOMAN IN BLACK at QPAC?

Sometimes tactical stagecraft, talented actors and a minimalist set are all you need to evoke spine-chilling terror.

The Woman in Black is returning to Australia. The play, based on Susan Hill's acclaimed ghost story, will star John Waters and Daniel MacPherson. Learn more about the production here!

Well-known TV and stage actress Gillian Elisa joins the cast of Branwen: Dadeni, a major new Welsh musical. Rehearsals have begun in Cardiff for this eagerly-anticipated production, which is a contemporary reimagining of the legendary tale of Branwen.

If you haven't had enough of ghosts, spooks and specters this season, run to A.C.T. Strand's captivating production of Dame Susan Hill's 1983 gothic horror story Woman in Black. Adapted to the stage by Stephen Mallatratt, the haunting of a small English town is the second longest-running play in the history of the West End and is now scaring audiences in this excellently staged, acted, and directed two-hander.

A late shift in venues moved the visitation of THE WOMAN IN BLACK, that famed West End perennial second in longevity to only The Mousetrap, from the Charleston Visitor Center Bus Shed - quite an intriguing choice - to Spoleto Festival USA's Festival Hall. Results are mixed.

Perhaps we can declare that social distancing is as antithetical to telling a gripping ghost story as it is to sustaining a great vibe at a bar or a pub. After a 30-year run in London's West End, where it remains on a pandemic-induced hiatus, THE WOMAN IN BLACK certainly has a pedigree to please. The play, adapted by Stephen Mallatratt from Susan Hill's 1983 novel, is only surpassed by Dame Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap as the longest-running play in West End history.

On this day in 2008, the Menier Chocolate Factory's production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, Sunday in the Park with George opened on Broadway.

THE LAST SHIP, starring and featuring original music and lyrics by 17-time Grammy Award® winner Sting, will make its Washington, D.C. premiere at the National Theatre from March 27 - April 5 as part of an international tour.

The McKittrick Hotel (530 West 27th Street, NYC), home of Sleep No More, announced today that The Woman in Black in the hotel's hidden pub The Club Car will extend its run and play through April 19, 2020. Tickets through the end of this engagement are on sale now.

Sting stopped by The Late Late Show with James Corden last night, where he performed 'The Last Ship' from the musical of the same name. He was joined on stage by cast members from the show's currently running national tour.

The McKittrick Hotel presents the original production of long-running West End play The Woman In Black. Previews began in the hotel's hidden pub The Club Car on January 8, with an official opening on January 23, 2020.

Production photos and footage have just been released of Sting's musical, THE LAST SHIP. The national tour of THE LAST SHIP is now playing in Los Angeles at Center Theatre Group's Ahmanson Theatre through February 16 followed by engagements at the Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco, Washington D.C. at the National Theatre; St. Paul, MN at the Ordway and Detroit, MI at the Detroit Opera House.

Full casting for Sting's acclaimed musical, THE LAST SHIP, has been announced. 

Stephen Mallatratt's stage adaptation of Susan Hill's 1983 horror novel 'The Woman in Black' has become somewhat of a legendary production. Originally directed by Robin Hereford (who has directed every recast of the show including this one), it has become a famous staple of the London theatre scene earning its premiere in 1989 and has been running ever since. 'The Woman in Black' is the second longest running stage play in West End history second only to Agatha Christie's 'The Mousetrap'. The play famously involves two actors who perform the entirety of the play. The structure of the show centers around a 'play within a play' concept following two actors as they go through their rehearsal process.

Sting's acclaimed musical, THE LAST SHIP, starring and featuring original music and lyrics by the 17-time Grammy Award®-winner, will go on sale Friday, November 29 for the premiere Detroit engagement at the Detroit Opera House. Tickets start at $35 and can be purchased online at broadwayindetroit.com or ticketmaster.com, and by phone at 800-982-2787. Tickets may also be purchased at the Detroit Opera House and Fisher Theatre box offices.

The theatrical phenomenon that is The Woman In Black began in 1987, when Stephen Mallatratt adapted Susan Hill's spine-chilling work of gothic fiction for the stage. Over thirty years and countless terrified audiences later the production is still going strong.

There are possibly no four words more chilling to the avid theatre-goer than The Woman in Black. Having taken the West End by storm, Stephen Mallatratt's adaptation of Susan Hill's classic ghost story is now haunting theatres around the UK on its tour, after celebrating its thirtieth birthday this year.

The U.S. tour of the National Theatre's multiple award-winning production of J.B. Priestley's classic thriller, AN INSPECTOR CALLS, presented by ArtsEmerson at Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre, features masterful direction by Stephen Daldry (who also directed the 1992 West End revival), Ian MacNeil's grand-scale set, spectacular design elements (lighting, sound, and music), as well as a sterling cast of British actors in the principal roles, making you feel as if you have crossed the pond and are in attendance at the venerable National Theatre. Written in 1945 at the end of World War II, Priestley set the action in the fictional town of Brumley, England, in 1912, when the winds of the Great War were in the offing, and these bookends provide a sociopolitical arc to the plot. Pitting the attitudes of the wealthy proponents of industrial capitalism against the socialist view of the needs of the working class, the play strikingly resonates with the current climate of privilege, income inequality, and #MeToo.

AN INSPECTOR CALLS is a gripping theatrical experience from start-to-finish. Director Stephen Daldry's breathtaking revival of J.B. Priestley's 1946 thriller had its origins in 1992 and comes to Chicago Shakespeare Theater now as part of an international tour from the National Theatre of Great Britain. Though Daldry originally conceived of this staging decades ago and Priestly has set his play in 1912, this production possesses both a timeliness and a timelessness that make it deeply impactful now.