The Woman in Black to End Run at New York's McKittrick Hotel

The Woman in Black, Stephen Mallatratt's stage adaptation of Susan Hill's gothic novel, will end its run at the McKittrick Hotel on February 27.

The dark and mysterious two-hander is about lawyer Arthur Kipps (David Acton) recounting his eerie visit to Eel Marsh House. He was sent there to collect documents and order the affairs of the recently deceased resident, Alice Drablow. In order to tell this story, he enlists the help of an actor (Ben Porter), who eventually takes over the central role while Kipps plays all of the other parts — all except for one: the mysterious woman in black.

This was a return engagement for The Woman in Black, which took up residence in the Club Car of the McKittrick in January 2020. TheaterMania's review of that run observed, "the stagecraft will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand at attention."

Speaking in a recent interview, director Robin Herford remarked on the role of the audience, "Without their imagination, the play won't fly. And what I try and do is engage the audience's intelligence as well as their imagination. They have to work quite hard in those first scenes to work out what's happening. That way they sort of commit themselves to the story."

Like every show in New York, the 2020 run of The Woman in Black was cut short by the Covid pandemic. The production returned just before Halloween 2021, with plans to play through January 2022. That run was extended through March 13, however the producers have now moved up the end of the run to February 27.

A production of The Woman in Black still runs on London's West End, where it enjoys the distinction of being the second-longest-running play in the city's history, after Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap.