Laughs amid the scares as The Woman In Black returns
The Woman In Black, one of the most successful and longest-running theatre shows in the history of London’s West End, is back on the road as it continues to mix wit and fear.
It will be at the Mayflower Studios, Southampton from April 7-11 2026, with John Mackay playing Mr Kipps plus a whole range of other characters.
In the piece, obsessed with a curse that he believes has been cast over him and his family by the spectre of a Woman in Black, Arthur Kipps engages a sceptical young actor to help him tell his terrifying story and exorcise the fear that grips his soul.
Not surprisingly, the show is getting a great response from audiences, John says: “What is so lovely about it is that it is a really communal experience. There is something extraordinary about bringing people together who are laughing and screaming and then laughing at each other for screaming! It's the power of the story really. We are the tillers that steer you through the story, but it's a story that I can't really explain too much for fear of revealing everything!
“But you wonder what is it about human beings that we want to put themselves through a rollercoaster like this. What is it about human beings that we want to be taken to a place of dread? Is it because we can do so and feel safe, that we are taken to the edge and we look around the corner rather than going through it ourselves?
“I think the title The Woman In Black and its history might let people assume that it is a certain kind of play but there is also a lot of wit in it. There is a lot of wit in the way that the two characters come together and a lot of wit in the way that they tell the story as the story gains momentum. There is also melodrama which is a particular style of theatre. Audiences will get on board with it. There is naturalism but there is also something else in between, theatricality and melodrama.”
In addition to playing Mr Kipps who initiates the story, John is playing a range of other characters, mostly from Yorkshire: “There is a variety of different people that populate the play. There is the landlord. And then there is the landowner, a patrician-type figure who is the leader of the town that has shut itself off from the outside world because it is dealing with this dreadful curse.”
John is also playing the clerk, and the character who drives the pony and cart, and also Mr Bentley who sends Mr Kipps off to London: “(In changing between them), it is about the physicality and the attitudes of these characters and also the rhythm of their speeches. It is fun to do and it's fun for the audience to see the little flicks you have to do to become the other characters. I am also the older Mr Kipps who has to explain this story to his family and rid himself of it and exorcise it. He is in a desperate situation, and he gets an actor who is going to coach him how to tell the story. The actor persuades him to act it out. It is layer upon layer, and the young actor becomes me and goes through the whole story.”