Darkness is a virtue in MCT play

by Grace and Frank Muirhead
Union Democrat, August 25, 2005

Frank: "Twas a dark and stormy night" almost. Dark enough, anyway, at the outdoor Cornelia B. Stevenot Performing Arts Center in Murphys to be the perfect setting for The Woman in Black, a good, old-fashioned ghost story. Unfortunately there were no bats flitting around the stage or owls swooping soundlessly through the trees. Indoors, this play has been running in London's West End for 13 years.

Grace: What we saw on opening night was basically a three character play, adapted by Stephen Mallatratt from the book by Susan Hill. Two of the actors in it play multiple roles. The story involves a middle-aged lawyer, Arthur Kipps (Graham Scottt Green), and the Actor (Yancey Quinones), here to help Kipps present his original drama. We'll mention the third role later.

Frank: Actually, Kipps is a solicitor, not a lawyer, a subtle distinction not familiar to most Americans. The Actor is most unimpressed, and justly so, by Kipps' stage presence, so he proceeds to take over Kipps' role in this play within a play. As the evening progresses, he finds himself having more in common with Kipps than he intended.

Grace: Kipps, on the other hand, is relegated to supporting roles, which allows Gren to portray a wide range of characters, from bartender to solicitor to country squire.

Frank: His motivation comes from an early experience in his professional life. He travels to a remote village to settle the estate of a Mrs. Drablow, and finds that none of the locals are willing to help him find her house or take him there. Appropriately, the gloomy house sits in a foggy, marshy location across a causeway. What else would you expect in a drama fraught with foreboding?

Grace: Add to that the set, a black-dropped, deserted theater, cluttered with racks of clothes and a smattering of furniture and plant stands, all of which enhance the bleakness of the tale. The artifacts on stage serve as props for the varied situations as the plot thickens. Now, you old Brit, what about the accents?

Frank: Fairly good overall, but American actors do have trouble with those long English vowels and tend to drag them out too much. Mr. Churchill said Britain and the United States are two countries divided only by a common language, so I suppose we can excuse the occasional mispronunciation.

Grace: Strong praise, coming from you. But for a play that depends so heavily on the spoken word, it was unfortunate that some of the dialog wasn't audible, especially when the actors were far stage left. We weren't alone - nearby theatregoers had the same problem. We had no trouble hearing the sound effects, though. Without them, there would be no suspense and basically no play at all. Fortunately, Leland Thompson at the sound board was right on cue during the entire performance.

Frank: The sound effects did what they could and should. Given the open-air theater, though, with the audience quite removed from the stage, more physical action from the players - broader gestures and exaggerated facial expressions - would draw the audience more into the mood.

Grace: Yes, a small theater would engender more intimacy. And thinnk of the version on DVD! We haven't seen it, but the close-ups must frighten the most blase audience.

Frank: We haven't mentioned the ghost - the title role. She, in combination with the lighting, was eerily effective.

Grace: Sitting in anticipation of the opening, I wanted my spine to tingle, my bones to chill, my hair to stand on end, my screams to be barely suppressed, to sit on the edge of my chair - old the old cliches - but none of this happened. I enjoyed the production nonetheless, but it could be spookier.

Frank: I have only one quarrel with that: I don't scream. Otherwise, I completely agree.