Review by Sara Fitzgerald, Front Row Reviewers
Anticipation swirls within me as I step into the elegant lobby of Provo’s Covey Center for the Arts. Ready for the Halloween season, Covey’s presentation of The Woman in Black fits that bill, and I couldn’t wait to be scared and impressed. I’m pleased to say, I experienced both. Chills travel down my spine as my daughter and I walk up the elegant staircase, which is dripping with cobwebs. The scary decorations add to my excitement.
The Woman in Black is a 1987 stage play adapted by Stephen Mallatratt, based on the novel The Woman in Black by English author Susan Hill. Only three exceptional actors carry this play in frightening fashion.
Arthur Kipps, an attorney, hires an actor to help him tell his story about the woman in black who haunts his worst nightmares. The actor is eager to make Kipps into an exceptional star. The two set out to recount Kipps’s tale and work together to share this creepy retelling for Arthur’s family, creating a story within the story. Kipps makes sense of the deceased Mrs. Drablow’s estate. He travels to her funeral and her dark, forbidden house in the desolated marshes in England. The townsfolks are weary and have terrible secrets about the mystery surrounding the deceased. Kipps begins to see a haunting figure in black with barely enough flesh on her bones to make her human. She frightens him, but he has a job to do and will not leave despite the warnings.
Matthew DelaFuente starts out playing The Actor, but as the play continues, he switches characters to play Kipps in the play within a play they are putting on. DelaFuente is a bold and self-assured actor who captures my attention the moment he speaks. He gives an astonishing performance. Samuel Wright‘s talent shines, first as Kipps and later the Actor who plays multiple roles. He takes on his characters effortlessly, especially when he plays Kipps. Zel Mcallister as The Woman in Black is terror personified. She does not speak, but her chilling screams echo in the small theater. At one point when the lights went out and flash back on, her menacing face is so close to me that I grabbed my daughter’s arm in fear.
Director Morgan Gunter is fearless in his interpretation of The Woman in Black. Ever since he was a child, he loved tales of Edgar Allen Poe and it has been easy to bring that interest in the macabre to this production. He believes the most powerful aspect of the play is the actors’ and patrons’ imaginations and that is amply shown in The Covey’s The Woman in Black.
Sound and Set Design by Robert Seely and Spencer Powell add such depth to the play. In fact, without them, I believe the play would not have stolen my heart. I felt like I was in the dirty streets of England or riding in a carriage through the marshes, or worst of all, in the creepy, haunted house of Mrs. Drablow, suffering along with Kipps. Costume, Hair, and Makeup Design by Jessica Moody is right on target, especially with the Woman in Black. Lighting Technician Michael Larson gets your heart pounding. Several times, the theater goes pitch black, leaving us on edge.
As I drove home, I could not stop talking about it with my husband, and last night, I may have even dreamed of the chilly Woman in Black. I urge you to see this haunting tale before it disappears into the misty fog.
The Covey Center for the Arts presents The Woman in Black by Susan Hill, adapted by Stephen Mallatratt.
425 W Center St, Provo, UT 84601
September 26-October 21, 2024 7:30 PM.
Tickets : $18 for students, military, and seniors, and $20 for general admission. CoveyCenter.org
Phone: (801) 852-7007
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