The Woman in Black is a novel written in 1983 by Susan Hill and is a ghost story about a menacing spectre that haunts a small English town. The Woman In Black treads in the footsteps of the classic ghost story, following the tradition of Charles Dickens and M.R James, of Henry James and Edith Wharton. It is not a horror story or a tale of terror, yet the events build up to a horrifying climax and instil a sense of horror. It relies on atmosphere, a vivid sense of place, on hints and glimpses and suggestions, on what is shadowy, heard and sometimes only half-seen, to chill the reader's blood to the marrow and make reading the book alone at night inadvisable for the faint-hearted.

Stephen Mallatratt's adaptation for the stage remains entirely true to the book itself and uses much of Susan Hill's own descriptive writing and dialogue, while transforming the novel into a totally gripping piece of theatre. The novel was first published by Hamish Hamilton in hardback in 1983 and later republished as a Mandarin Paperback in 1989 and a Vintage Paperback in 1999.

The novel was filmed as a UK TV movie in 1989, with a script from distinguished film and television writer Nigel Kneale, best known as the creator of the Quatermass science-fiction serials. The stage play was first performed at the Theatre-by-the-Sea 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.

On a personal note, this is my first directorial effort – an opportunity that I’ve been looking to get for some time. I want to take this opportunity to thank Brian Harrower and the members of the Gnosis Board of Directors for allowing me to take this on. It has been an absolute pleasure to have this cast and crew to start this phase of my theatrical life with. I hope you enjoy the show…

Jim Mason
Director

PS: I love you Annie…