The Toronto Theatre Review: Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black

By Ross

“It was 9:30 on Christmas Eve.” Arthur Kipps cannot quite get the line out before he is gently, then firmly, interrupted. From that moment on, Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black, adapted by Stephen Mallatratt (The Glory of the Garden) and now presented by Mirvish at Toronto’s CAA Theatre, establishes both its method and its mad pleasure. Kipps, played with mounting unease by David Acton (RSC’s Macbeth), has come to tell a ghost story, a true one, he insists, because he believes that only by telling can he finally sleep without those terrible nightmares. James Byng (West End’s The Lord of the Rings) as ‘The Actor’ is there to help shape his retelling, offering notes, suggestions, and ultimately a far more vivid command of the narrative, all in service of making Kipps’s audience “taste and smell” the world he is so desperate to survive revisiting. And finally, will the haunting away.

What follows is a quietly gripping theatrical seduction that lives and breathes in the darkness of the shadows. Under the assured direction of Robin Herford (Park’s Stray Dogs), the play leans strongly into the long tradition of Christmas Eve ghost stories, inviting us to settle in before slowly tightening the screws. As ‘The Actor’ gradually takes on Kipps’s central role, with Kipps himself slipping into a gallery of secondary characters, the fear deepens, and the darkness subtly creeps in. Acton lets us feel how terrifying even the act of remembering is for this man, while Byng’s confident storytelling shows us how imagination, once unleashed, can become its own kind of haunting. The shadowy structure is simple but remarkably effective, drawing us further into the tale almost against our will.

The design work is where the production truly finds its theatrical teeth. Michael Holt’s sparse set, paired with Anshuman Bhatia’s precise lighting and Sebastian Frost’s unnerving soundscape, allows shadows and suggestion to do the heavy lifting. When the black, floating figure finally begins to emerge, the effect is less about outright shock and more about sustained unease. It is not always as terrifying as its reputation promises, but it is consistently engaging, with well-timed sights and sounds that make bodies jump and the hair on my arms stand up tall in the dark.

Both actors transform impressively across roles, voices, and physicalities, sustaining the illusion with remarkable economy. The final turn of the story may not surprise seasoned ghost story devotees, but it still lands with a wicked chill down my spine, sending the audience out into the Toronto night, chatting in delight as they work to let go of the silent unease they just experienced. The Woman in Black remains a well-crafted, atmospheric piece of storytelling, and there is something deeply satisfying about encountering it as intended, shared in a darkened theatre on the cusp of the holidays. A ghost story, like Scrooge‘s on Christmas Eve, still works, and this one knows exactly how to whisper its way under your skin.