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Youngstown Playhouse "Woman in Black" will haunt your imagination
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
YOUNGSTOWN
In the film “The Woman in Black” (2012), starring Daniel Radcliffe, the ghost of a tormented mother wreaks her vengeance on the inhabitants of an eerie English town in the 1800s.
Much of the action takes place in an empty and isolated mansion at the end of a marshy road. Radcliffe plays a lawyer sent to settle an estate after the death of the mansion owner.
The spine-tingling movie is relentlessly creepy, and delivers a satisfying ending that the viewer might not have expected.
As Halloween draws near, the Youngstown Playhouse will present a stage adaptation of the 1983 novel by Susan Hill.
Unlike the film, the play tells the story in memory mode. But the creepiness factor remains unchanged.
In the script by Steven Mallatratt, the lawyer hires an actor to help him recount what happened when he attended the funeral of the elderly recluse.
Candace DiLullo is directing the Playhouse production. She answered a few questions about the play:
Q. In what other ways does the stage version of “The Woman in Black” depart from the film?
A. I actually haven’t seen the movie myself. I came across the play script about four years ago, and that’s where I got the idea to do the show. Yes, I’ve been waiting very patiently for four years to do this show! I do know one difference is cast size — the play is done with two men and, obviously, a woman, whereas the movie has a much larger cast, including many more ghosts. In the play, one actor plays [lawyer] Arthur Kipps and the other plays every other character in the story. My technical director, Jim Lybarger, tells me that the end of the play is very different from the end of the movie, but that’s all I know.
Q. Who is in the cast?
A. First is a very well-known name in Youngstown community theater, David El’Hatton. He is playing Arthur Kipps, who, for the purposes of re-telling his ghost story, plays every character other than Kipps. I’m very excited to say that there are two fairly new faces to Youngstown community theater appearing in the show. James Hain, a YSU instructor, last seen in a series of short plays written by Michael Dempsey performed at the Rust Belt Theater Company, plays the actor Kipps hires to help tell his ghost story. In the retelling, the hired actor plays Kipps. The woman is played by Victoria Lubonovich. Audiences may remember her performance as Fraulein Kost in the Playhouse’s recent production of “Cabaret.”
Q. Has the play ever been performed in the area?
A. I cannot say for certain that this is a first for the area, although, I do not remember ever hearing of it being performed. I’m certain it, at the very least, that it hasn’t been performed in the last 10 years.
Q. How will the set and special effects bring the spookiness to life?
A. Because the play takes place as a rehearsal in a theater, the set is very minimal. Anyone who has spent some time alone staring at the Playhouse stage can tell you there’s no shortage of eeriness. I don’t want to give away too much, but I will say I have Ellen Licitra, one of the best light designers in the area, and John Pecano, in my opinion the best sound designer in the area, on board to help transport the audience to the haunted town of Crythin Gifford and Eel Marsh House. Jim Lybarger and Pecano are cooking up some things that will, at the very least, keep audience members on the edge of their seats.