PW Productions announces that Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black will embark on a UK Tour, opening at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre on Wednesday 6 September 2023, following the production’s final performance in the West End at The Fortune Theatre tomorrow, Saturday 4 March.
Following Wolverhampton, the tour will visit Cardiff, Billingham, Buxton, Aylesbury, Southend, Richmond, Poole, Nottingham, Liverpool, Norwich, Truro, York, Birmingham, Bradford, Brighton, Ipswich, Glasgow, Milton Keynes, Dartford, High Wycombe and Crewe. Further tour dates and casting to be announced.
Over 33-years The Woman in Black has played over 13,000 performances in the West End and been seen by over 7-million people in the UK. In June 2019 the production celebrated its 30th Anniversary in London’s West End with a special gala performance.
Stephen Mallatratt’s adaptation of Susan Hill’s best-selling novel tells the story of a lawyer obsessed with a curse that he believes has been cast over his family by the spectre of a ‘Woman in Black’. He engages a young actor to help him tell his story and exorcise the fear that grips his soul. It begins innocently enough, but as they delve further into his darkest memories the borders between make-believe and reality begin to blur and the flesh begins to creep.
Following a Christmas production in 1987 at a pub in Scarborough, The Woman in Black was brought to Hammersmith’s Lyric Theatre in January 1989. Reviews were sufficiently encouraging (apart from The Independent, who regretted the production’s inability to incorporate a live dog) to warrant a West End run. Its West End tour started at the Strand (now Novello) Theatre in March and moved to the Playhouse in April, finally lodging at the Fortune on June 7, 1989.
Throughout the production’s run in the West End and during its many tours the producer has been determined to keep ticket prices within the range of students and young people. This policy will continue in whatever form the play and production take in the future.
The Woman in Black is directed by Robin Herford, with designs by Michael Holt and lighting by Kevin Sleep.
