The Woman in Black
Encyclopedia
The Woman in Black is a 1983 thriller fiction novel
by Susan Hill
about a menacing spectre that haunts a small English town.
It was adapted into a stage play
by Stephen Mallatratt
. A TV movie based on the story, also called The Woman in Black, was produced in 1989, with a screenplay by the distinguished film and television writer Nigel Kneale
(best known as the creator of the Quatermass
science-fiction serials). A remake of the film is set to be released by Hammer
in 2012. The stage play was first performed at the Stephen Joseph Theatre-In-The-Round in Scarborough, UK in 1987. It was very well received and moved to the Fortune Theatre
in London
's West End
in 1989 where it still runs today, as well as currently being on a UK National Tour. It is the second longest running play in the history of the West End, after The Mousetrap
.
, Arthur Kipps, who is summoned to Crythin Gifford, a small market town on the east coast of the United Kingdom
to attend to the funeral of Mrs Alice Drablow, an elderly and reclusive widow who lived alone in the desolate and secluded Eel Marsh House.
, and at high tide is completely cut off from the mainland with only the surrounding marsh
es and sea frets for company. Kipps soon realises there is more to Alice Drablow than he originally thought. At the funeral he spots a woman dressed in black and with a pale, wasted face, who is watched in silence by a group of children. Over the course of several days, while sorting through Mrs Drablow's papers at Eel Marsh House, he endures an increasingly terrifying sequence of unexplained noises, chilling events and hauntings
by the Woman in Black. The hauntings included the sound of a horse and cart in difficulty which were closely followed by the screams of a young child and his maid.
Most of the people in Crythin Gifford are extremely reluctant to reveal information about Mrs Drablow and the mysterious Woman in Black, and most attempts to find out the truth cause pained and fearful reactions. From various sources, Kipps learns that Mrs Drablow's sister, Jennet Humfrye, gave birth to a child, but, because she was not married when she became pregnant was forced to give the child to her sister. Mrs Drablow and her husband adopted the boy, called Nathaniel, insisting he should never know that Jennet was his mother. The child's screams heard by Kipps were those of Nathaniel.
Jennet went away for a year but after realising she could not be parted for so long from her son, made an agreement to stay at Eel Marsh House with her son, so long as she never revealed her true identity to him. One day, a pony and trap carrying the boy across the causeway became lost and sank into the marshes, killing all aboard, while Jennet looked on from the window of Eel Marsh House as she waited for them. This was particularly distressing for Jennet Humfrye as she had planned to run away with her son, as they were becoming very close.
Jennet died later, but returned to haunt Eel Marsh House and Crythin Gifford with a vengeful malevolence, as the Woman in Black. According to local tales, seeing the Woman in Black meant that the death of a child would follow.
After the affair is settled, Arthur Kipps returns to London, marries Stella, and has a child of his own. At a fair, while his wife and child are enjoying a carriage ride, Kipps suddenly sees the Woman in Black once more. She steps out in front of the horse pulling the carriage and startles it so greatly that it gallops away and collides with a tree, killing the child and fatally injuring Stella, who dies of her injuries ten months later. The Woman in Black has had her vengeance.
The play is staged at the Fortune Theatre
in Covent Garden
and has been running since its opening in 1989. The play has had an enormous success on the London stage, as well as many other countries around the world.
network. The production starred Adrian Rawlins
as Arthur Kidd (not Kipps), Bernard Hepton
as Sam Toovey (not Sam Daily) and Pauline Moran
as The Woman in Black.
In December 1993, BBC Radio 5
broadcast an adaptation of the novel. It starred Robert Glenister
(as young Arthur Kipps) and John Woodvine
(as an old Arthur Kipps, who also narrates parts of the story). It was directed by Chris Wallis.
In October 2004, BBC Radio 4
broadcast a 56 minute version in its Saturday Play slot, adapted by Mike Walker
. It starred James D'Arcy
as Arthur Kipps, was directed by John Taylor and was a Fiction Factory production.
In September 2010, Hammer Films
and Alliance Films
began production of a film adaption of the book (originally planned to be filmed in 3D, but ultimately filmed in standard 2D). It features Daniel Radcliffe
in the role of Arthur Kipps, and is being directed by James Watkins of Eden Lake
fame.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Susan Hill
Susan Hill
Susan Hill is an English author of fiction and non-fiction works. Her novels include The Woman in Black, The Mist in the Mirror and I'm the King of the Castle for which she received the Somerset Maugham Award in 1971....
about a menacing spectre that haunts a small English town.
It was adapted into a stage play
The Woman in Black (play)
The Woman in Black is a 1987 stage play, adapted by Stephen Mallatratt. The play is based on the book of the same name, which was written in 1983 by Susan Hill. It is notable for only having two actors perform the whole play. It was first performed at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, in...
by Stephen Mallatratt
Stephen Mallatratt
Stephen Mallatratt was an English playwright and television screenwriter. He is best known for his television work on the ITV series Coronation Street, The Forsyte Saga and Island at War , and for his stage adaptation of the novel The Woman in Black...
. A TV movie based on the story, also called The Woman in Black, was produced in 1989, with a screenplay by the distinguished film and television writer Nigel Kneale
Nigel Kneale
Nigel Kneale was a British screenwriter from the Isle of Man. Active in television, film, radio drama and prose fiction, he wrote professionally for over fifty years, was a winner of the Somerset Maugham Award and was twice nominated for the British Film Award for Best Screenplay...
(best known as the creator of the Quatermass
Bernard Quatermass
Professor Bernard Quatermass is a fictional scientist, originally created by the writer Nigel Kneale for BBC Television. An intelligent and highly moral British scientist, Quatermass is a pioneer of the British space programme, heading up the British Experimental Rocket Group...
science-fiction serials). A remake of the film is set to be released by Hammer
Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies and in later...
in 2012. The stage play was first performed at the Stephen Joseph Theatre-In-The-Round in Scarborough, UK in 1987. It was very well received and moved to the Fortune Theatre
Fortune Theatre
The Fortune Theatre is a 432 seat West End theatre in Russell Street, near Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, built in 1922-4 by Ernest Schaufelberg for impresario Laurence Cowen. The façade is principally bush hammered concrete, with brick piers supporting the roof...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's West End
West End of London
The West End of London is an area of central London, containing many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buildings, and entertainment . Use of the term began in the early 19th century to describe fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross...
in 1989 where it still runs today, as well as currently being on a UK National Tour. It is the second longest running play in the history of the West End, after The Mousetrap
The Mousetrap
The Mousetrap is a murder mystery play by Agatha Christie. The Mousetrap opened in the West End of London in 1952, and has been running continuously since then. It has the longest initial run of any play in history, with over 24,500 performances so far. It is the longest running show of the modern...
.
Plot introduction
The story centres on a young solicitorSolicitor
Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...
, Arthur Kipps, who is summoned to Crythin Gifford, a small market town on the east coast of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
to attend to the funeral of Mrs Alice Drablow, an elderly and reclusive widow who lived alone in the desolate and secluded Eel Marsh House.
Plot summary
The house is situated on Nine Lives CausewayCauseway
In modern usage, a causeway is a road or railway elevated, usually across a broad body of water or wetland.- Etymology :When first used, the word appeared in a form such as “causey way” making clear its derivation from the earlier form “causey”. This word seems to have come from the same source by...
, and at high tide is completely cut off from the mainland with only the surrounding marsh
Marsh
In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....
es and sea frets for company. Kipps soon realises there is more to Alice Drablow than he originally thought. At the funeral he spots a woman dressed in black and with a pale, wasted face, who is watched in silence by a group of children. Over the course of several days, while sorting through Mrs Drablow's papers at Eel Marsh House, he endures an increasingly terrifying sequence of unexplained noises, chilling events and hauntings
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
by the Woman in Black. The hauntings included the sound of a horse and cart in difficulty which were closely followed by the screams of a young child and his maid.
Most of the people in Crythin Gifford are extremely reluctant to reveal information about Mrs Drablow and the mysterious Woman in Black, and most attempts to find out the truth cause pained and fearful reactions. From various sources, Kipps learns that Mrs Drablow's sister, Jennet Humfrye, gave birth to a child, but, because she was not married when she became pregnant was forced to give the child to her sister. Mrs Drablow and her husband adopted the boy, called Nathaniel, insisting he should never know that Jennet was his mother. The child's screams heard by Kipps were those of Nathaniel.
Jennet went away for a year but after realising she could not be parted for so long from her son, made an agreement to stay at Eel Marsh House with her son, so long as she never revealed her true identity to him. One day, a pony and trap carrying the boy across the causeway became lost and sank into the marshes, killing all aboard, while Jennet looked on from the window of Eel Marsh House as she waited for them. This was particularly distressing for Jennet Humfrye as she had planned to run away with her son, as they were becoming very close.
Jennet died later, but returned to haunt Eel Marsh House and Crythin Gifford with a vengeful malevolence, as the Woman in Black. According to local tales, seeing the Woman in Black meant that the death of a child would follow.
After the affair is settled, Arthur Kipps returns to London, marries Stella, and has a child of his own. At a fair, while his wife and child are enjoying a carriage ride, Kipps suddenly sees the Woman in Black once more. She steps out in front of the horse pulling the carriage and startles it so greatly that it gallops away and collides with a tree, killing the child and fatally injuring Stella, who dies of her injuries ten months later. The Woman in Black has had her vengeance.
Stage play
The book was adapted into a play by Stephen Mallatratt. In this version, an older Kipps enlists a young actor to help him tell the story of the 'Woman in Black', hoping that this will help him to move on from those events and exorcise the ghost. The actor plays the part of the young Arthur Kipps while Kipps plays the roles of the people he met. The play adds the twist that the actress playing the Woman in Black in the recreation of the events was the real Woman in Black.The play is staged at the Fortune Theatre
Fortune Theatre
The Fortune Theatre is a 432 seat West End theatre in Russell Street, near Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, built in 1922-4 by Ernest Schaufelberg for impresario Laurence Cowen. The façade is principally bush hammered concrete, with brick piers supporting the roof...
in Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
and has been running since its opening in 1989. The play has had an enormous success on the London stage, as well as many other countries around the world.
Radio, television, and film adaptations
In 1989, the story was adapted for television for Britain's ITVITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
network. The production starred Adrian Rawlins
Adrian Rawlins
Adrian Rawlins is an English actor who is probably best known for playing Author Kidd in the woman in black .-Early life:Rawlins was born in Stoke-on-Trent, the son of Mavis and Edward Rawlins.-Education:...
as Arthur Kidd (not Kipps), Bernard Hepton
Bernard Hepton
Bernard Hepton is a British actor of stage, film and television.Hepton is known as a particularly versatile character actor. He trained at Bradford Civic Theatre school under Esme Church along with actors such as Robert Stephens...
as Sam Toovey (not Sam Daily) and Pauline Moran
Pauline Moran
Pauline Moran is an English actress known for her role as Miss Lemon in the British television series Agatha Christie's Poirot....
as The Woman in Black.
In December 1993, BBC Radio 5
BBC Radio 5 (former)
BBC Radio 5 was a BBC radio network that carried sport, children's and educational programmes.It was transmitted via analogue radio on 693 and 909 kHz, and lasted for three years and eight months. The success of BBC Radio 4's coverage of the Gulf War, on a service known as Scud FM,...
broadcast an adaptation of the novel. It starred Robert Glenister
Robert Glenister
Robert Lewis Glenister is a British actor known for his roles as con man Ash "Three Socks" Morgan in the British TV series Hustle, and Nicholas Blake in the BBC spy drama Spooks.-Career:...
(as young Arthur Kipps) and John Woodvine
John Woodvine
John Woodvine is an English stage and screen actor who has appeared in more than 70 theatre productions, as well as a similar number of television and film roles.-Early life:...
(as an old Arthur Kipps, who also narrates parts of the story). It was directed by Chris Wallis.
In October 2004, BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
broadcast a 56 minute version in its Saturday Play slot, adapted by Mike Walker
Mike Walker (radio dramatist)
Mike Walker is a radio dramatist and feature and documentary writer. His radio work includes both original plays and adaptations of novels, classical and modern...
. It starred James D'Arcy
James D'Arcy
-Early life:James D'Arcy was born as Simon D'Arcy and grew up in Fulham, London, with his mother, Caroline and his younger sister Charlotte. His father died when he was young. After completing his education at Christ's Hospital in 1991, he went to Australia for a year and worked in the drama...
as Arthur Kipps, was directed by John Taylor and was a Fiction Factory production.
In September 2010, Hammer Films
Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies and in later...
and Alliance Films
Alliance Films
Alliance Films is a major Canadian motion picture distribution/production company, which serves Canada, the United Kingdom, and Spain.-History:It was formed in 1984 by Stephen Roth, Denis Heroux, John Kemeny, Robert Lantos and Jay...
began production of a film adaption of the book (originally planned to be filmed in 3D, but ultimately filmed in standard 2D). It features Daniel Radcliffe
Daniel Radcliffe
Daniel Jacob Radcliffe is an English actor who rose to prominence playing the titular character in the Harry Potter film series....
in the role of Arthur Kipps, and is being directed by James Watkins of Eden Lake
Eden Lake
Eden Lake is a 2008 British horror film, written and directed by James Watkins and starring Kelly Reilly, Michael Fassbender and Jack O'Connell.-Plot synopsis:...
fame.