Home  Entertainment Reviews “Woman in Black” by Stephen Mallatratt (Oct. 16)
|
“Woman in Black” by Stephen Mallatratt (Oct. 16) |
|
|
|
|
Written by Barry Gaines
|
|
last updated Wednesday, February 28, 2007, at 10:06:23
|
|
Theatrical Halloween arrived on Friday the 13th at the Adobe Theater with a production of “The Woman in Black,” Stephen Mallatratt’s 1987 adaptation of a 1983 gothic novel by Susan Hall. The play has run for seventeen years in London where a generation of audience members have screamed and shivered at the old-fashioned ghost story. Perhaps my spine has become unusually tough, but it was neither chilled nor tingled at the production.
There were, however, gasps and ahs from others in the audience. There was also some enjoyable acting and a mysterious apparition. “Woman in Black” is a play-within-a-play-within-a-play. Arthur Kipps has been haunted by events that took place sixty years earlier. Anxious to exorcise the ghost of the past, he has written his tale down and plans to read it to his family and “those who need to know.” He has hired an Actor to give him assistance in presenting his story of “fear and confusion, horror and tragedy.” The Actor, however, suggests that they act out the events with the Actor portraying young Arthur and Arthur himself playing the other roles. On a minimal set with changes of jackets and hats, the two relate the events of the past. The Actor persuades Arthur that the audience’s imagination, aided by the newly invented technology of “recorded sounds,” will embrace the eerie narrative. A client of his law firm has died, and Arthur is dispatched to attend her funeral and put her papers in order. Arthur makes the long journey to the isolated mansion surrounded by marshland that is often under water. Along the way he meets acquaintances of the deceased who act strangely at the mention of his dead client. I will give away no more of the plot except to say that a skeletal figure with a pale, wasted face and clad all in black appears to the Actor as she had to Arthur years before. Her identity is ultimately revealed and her revenge explained. Much of the credit for the play’s supernatural atmosphere goes to Zane Barker, the light and sound designer. The play is terribly British in its place names (Crythin Gifford, Eel Marsh House), its vocabulary (solicitor, torch), its pronunciation, and its leisurely pace. Under Director Rick Wiles it is, at times, as slow as treacle on Boxing Day. The pauses between segments—during which the performers move furniture and change clothing—stretch the narrative out. There was also a tentativeness on opening night—that may have been intentional. Alan Hudson (the Actor) and Ray Orley (Arthur) are audience favorites and they handle their parts well. Orley has good fun playing his variety of roles with different facial expressions and accents. Jill Stacy does not receive billing for her ghostly presence. You don’t have to go to London to be mousetrapped into this long-running play. If You Go WHAT: “Woman in Black” by Stephen Mallatratt WHEN: Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. through November 5 WHERE: The Adobe Theater, 9813 Fourth NW HOW MUCH: $12 general public, $10 seniors and students. Call 898-9222 for ticket information
Comment on this article
Send your comments to ABQjournal (Show/Hide Form)
Other Visitors Comments
There are no comments approved to share, thanks for your comments ....
|
|
permalink
|
About Reviewers D.S. Crafts (Website) Composer Daniel Steven Crafts came to New Mexico from San Francisco where he had hosted a classical music radio program on KPFA. His first commission from opera star Jerry Hadley, "The Song & the Slogan" based on texts by Carl Sandburg, was made into a TV program for the PBS network and aired nationally in 2004 and won an Emmy for Best Music. His latest opera La Llorona is a collaboration with novelist Rudolfo Anaya based on his play "The Season of La Llorona." Mr. Crafts is currently working on another commission from Jerry Hadley for a piece about the American Southwest which includes texts by Rudolfo Anaya and V.B. Price. Two CDs of his music, Contemporaries (short, satirical keyboard works) and ARIAS (excerpts from his various operas) have been released on the BACAT label in San Francisco.
David Steinberg David Steinberg has covered state government, the courts, city and county government in Santa Fe for the Albuquerque Journal. He's been an arts writer for the past 20 years, and serves as the book editor, for the Journal. Over the years, he's also acted in plays, sung in choruses and played trumpet.
Jennifer Noyer Jennifer Noyer has been writing dance reviews for the Albuquerque Journal for 17 years, as well as contributing articles for Dance Magazine and other art journals. She trained in dance with Hanya Holm in New York City and Colorado Springs, and studied several dance techniques at the graduate level at the University of Michigan. After teaching dance at Wayne State University she entered and completed a Masters Degree in Humanities there. In New Mexico Ms. Noyer has taught, directed, and choreographed contemporary dance for several years. Her writing on dance includes a monograph accompanying the video of choreographer Bill Evens’ ballet “The Legacy.” An overview of Evans’s world wide career, it was written and published during his tenure at the University of New Mexico. Ms. Noyer’s studies in the humanities, and her studio dance work influence her approach to dance as an integrative art form in the United States.
Barry Gaines Barry Gaines has taught Shakespeare in the University of New Mexico English Department for over twenty-five years and has received two outstanding teaching awards. He has written theater reviews for the Journal since 2000. He has attended theater all over the world including Shakespeare productions in Russia, South Africa, Denmark, and Poland. He has also served as literary advisor for two professional theater companies and written performance reviews for Shakespeare Quarterly. Gaines has taken two years of acting with Paul Ford and appeared in small parts in three plays at the Albuquerque Little Theater. He believes that he is probably a better reviewer than actor.
Joanne Sheehy Hoover Joanne Sheehy Hoover, music critic emeritus of the Albuquerque Journal, has written for NPR, PBS, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Symphony, among others. She has also been a music lecturer for the Smithsonian Associates and a music critic and arts writer for The Washington Post. She was director of the Levine School of Music, one of the country’s largest community music schools, in Washington, D. C. 1980-1993. She and her husband moved to Corrales, New Mexico in July 1993. Also a poet, her fifth collection, “Einstein in New Mexico,” was published in 2002.
Marissa Greenberg Marissa Greenberg is a member of the faculty of the University of New Mexico English Department, where she teaches Shakespeare and early English literature. A prior guest reviewer for the Albuquerque Journal, Greenberg will be reviewing theater while Barry Gaines is out of town. She also composed and edited the program notes for last year’s Albuquerque Shakespeare Festival and has written performance reviews for Shakespeare Bulletin. A graduate of Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania, Greenberg has been performing and studying drama for most of her life. She is thrilled to have this opportunity to review for the Journal.
If you have your own question about the news that you'd like to see answered by an AP journalist, send it to newsquestions@ap.org, with "Ask AP" in the subject line. Visit the ASK ap web site.
|
:
...go to bookmarks