The Woman In Black Tickets

The Woman in Black celebrating 20 terrifying years in the West End.

This summer The Woman in Black is celebrating its 20th birthday in the West End. Since 1989, over 7 million people have lived to tell the tale of one of the most exciting, spooky, gripping and successful theatre events ever staged.

Unanimously acclaimed by the critics, Stephen Mallatratt's adaptation of Susan Hill's best selling novel combines the power and intensity of live theatre with a cinematic quality inspired by the world of film noir. It is a formula that provides audiences with an evening of unremitting drama as they are transported into a terrifying and ghostly world.

The Wom...

The Woman in Black celebrating 20 terrifying years in the West End.

This summer The Woman in Black is celebrating its 20th birthday in the West End. Since 1989, over 7 million people have lived to tell the tale of one of the most exciting, spooky, gripping and successful theatre events ever staged.

Unanimously acclaimed by the critics, Stephen Mallatratt's adaptation of Susan Hill's best selling novel combines the power and intensity of live theatre with a cinematic quality inspired by the world of film noir. It is a formula that provides audiences with an evening of unremitting drama as they are transported into a terrifying and ghostly world.

The Woman in Black has been phenomenally successful, both as a novel and as a play. Susan Hill's book has been translated into several languages, while Stephen Mallatratt's stage adaptation has been playing continuously in London's West End for a remarkable twenty years. 

Over 7 million people have seen the play, and many of them return to see it again and again.  But what is the secret of its success?  Why do readers and audiences continue to find The Woman in Black such a compelling experience?  Susan Hill believes that the moral core of the story is a crucial part of its attraction. It is not simply a scary story; there is definitely a point to it. In the play Jennet Humfrye has a real reason for haunting: vengeance for the death of her child. She cannot forgive; she cannot move on; she has to remain in this terrible sort of hell, an endless recycling of the accident, the grief and the vengeance. She is caught in it forever.  The moral point is that you have to let go.  The grief and the blame have to stop. So it is quite a serious story.  It is her tragedy really as she is caught in a time warp of endless grieving. For Susan Hill, one of the great things about the play is that it holds you in your seat - it rivets you, but when you come out, you think about it still. That's what all good theatre should do.

Since she wrote The Woman in Black, Susan Hill has often been asked whether or not she believes in ghosts. 

‘I think the answer must be that I do. I have to. I have never seen one, and I don't know anyone who has and I think you can explain away 99 per cent of the ghost stories that are told - they will, if carefully investigated, admit of a ready explanation.  But the remaining one per cent?  That there are ghosts that people have seen I have no doubt. But how?  Why? I don't know. Do you?'

‘A truly nerve-shredding experience' Daily Mail

‘Don't go unless you like being scared out of your wits' Sunday Mirror

‘The most brilliantly effective spine chiller you will ever encounter...If you haven't seen this show yet you are missing a treat' Daily Telegraph