I chose not to watch the film starring Daniel Radcliffe or read the book by Susan Hills of The Woman in Black so attended the play with no pre-conceptions.

The play is set in a Victorian Theatre in London and starts when Arthur Kipps (Ioan Hefin) enlists the help of a young actor (Rhys Meredith) to tell his horrific life story until the play and life become jumbled.

This section of the ‘play within a play’ took a while to get through explaining what was taking place on stage but the pairing worked extremely well together and tied up all the loose ends before the jumpy moments started.

The choice of set is simple yet effective and encourages audience members to use their imagination above all. The scenes revolving around the marshland beyond the deceased Alice Drablow’s manor, left the audience to question what might be lurking in the mist.

The funeral service is extremely well performed and the set shows its versatility. Another area which is particularly mesmerising was the empty nursery, I will say no more!

The show has many ‘jumpy’ moments, the use of lighting is especially effective when revealing the ghostly figure of The Woman in Black in several unexpected places. This comes across well in the Torch Theatre setting especially when the mysterious woman appears, the audience’s shock and fear is passed through everyone in the theatre.

This play is a solid couple of hours of entertainment and if you like theatrical thrillers, this is most definitely for you.

The Woman in Black runs until October 22. Please see torchtheatre.co.uk or call the box office on 01646 695267 for ticket information.