Cast announced for The Woman in Black UK and Ireland tour
She could be visiting you very soon...
PW Productions have announced casting for the UK and Ireland tour of Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black.
The production will star Malcolm James as Arthur Kipps and Mark Hawkins as The Actor, opening at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre on Wednesday 6th September 2023.
Malcolm James returns to The Woman in Black having first played Arthur Kipps on a UK Tour and then at the Fortune Theatre. His other West End credits include The Mousetrap at St. Martin’s Theatre and Volpone at the National Theatre. His on-screen credits include HBO’s My Dinner with Herve, Secret Invasion on Disney+, the BBC’s Doctors and EastEnders, ITV’s Coronation Street and The Bill. On radio he has been heard on Letters to an Icon, The History Man and several afternoon dramas all on BBC Radio 4.
Mark Hawkins first played The Actor in The Woman in Black at the Fortune Theatre and The Madinat Theatre. His other theatrical credits include The Railway Children at Kings Cross Theatre, Julius Caesar at The Globe, the uk tour of Lady Chatterley’s Lover and the international tour of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. His television credits include HBO’s The Nevers and ITV’s Vera.
The tour cast is completed by Jon de Ville (The Sound of Music UK Tour, Netflix’s Scoop, BBC’s Strike) as understudy Arthur Kipps and Dominic Price (The Woman in Black) as understudy The Actor.
Over 33-years The Woman in Black played over 13,000 performances in the West End and has been seen by over 7-million people in the UK. In June 2019 the production celebrated its 30th Anniversary in London’s West End with a special gala performance.
Following a Christmas production in 1987 at a pub in Scarborough, The Woman in Black was brought to Hammersmith’s Lyric Theatre in January 1989. Its West End tour started at the Strand (now Novello) Theatre in March and moved to the Playhouse in April, finally lodging at the Fortune on June 7th, 1989.
Fortune Theatre on June 7th, 1989 where it ran all the way until March 2023.
The Woman in Black tour dates:
Wednesday 6th - Saturday 9th September 2023: Wolverhampton Grand
Tuesday 19th - Saturday 23rd September: Cardiff New Theatre
Tuesday 26th - Saturday 30th September: Billingham Forum
Tuesday 3rd - Saturday 7th October: Buxton Opera House
Tuesday 10th - Saturday 14th October: Waterside Theatre, Aylesbury
Tuesday 17th - Saturday 21st October: Palace Theatre, Southend
Tuesday 31st October - Saturday 4th November: Blackpool Grand
Tuesday 7th - Saturday 11th November: Malvern Festival Theatre
Tuesday 14th - Saturday 18th November: Richmond Theatre
Tuesday 21st - Saturday 25th November: Poole Lighthouse
Monday 27th November - Saturday 2nd December: Theatre Royal, Nottingham
Tuesday 5th - Saturday 30th December: Liverpool Playhouse
Tuesday 9th - Saturday 13th January 2024: Wyvern Theatre, Swindon
Monday 15th - Saturday 20th January: Theatre Royal, Norwich
Monday 22nd - Saturday 27th January: Hall for Cornwall
Tuesday 30th - Saturday 3rd February: Grand Opera House, York
Tuesday 6th - Saturday 10th February: The Alexandra, Birmingham
Tuesday 20th - Saturday 24th February: Alhambra Theatre, Bradford
Tuesday 27th - Saturday 2nd March: Theatre Royal, Brighton
Monday 4th - Saturday 9th March: Regent Theatre, Ipswich
Monday 11th - Saturday 16th March: Theatre Royal, Bath
Tuesday 26th - Saturday 20th March: Theatre Royal, Glasgow
Tuesday 2nd - Saturday 6th April: Milton Keynes Theatre
Tuesday 9th - Saturday 13th April: The Orchard Theatre, Dartford
Tuesday 16th Saturday 20th April: Wycombe Swan
Tuesday 23rd Saturday 27th April: Crewe Lyceum Theatre
Tuesday 30th April - Saturday 4th May: Belgrade Theatre, Coventry
Monday 13th - Saturday 18th May: Grand Opera House, Belfast
Tuesday 21st - Saturday 25th May: Millennium Forum, Derry
Tuesday 28th May - Saturday 1st June: Gaiety Theatre, Dublin
For more information you can visit the Woman in Black website.
Have a look at musicals based on books:
Cabaret
Kander and Ebb's hugely successful Cabaret which is set in Berlin during the Weimar Republic was based on John Van Druten's play I am a Camera which in turn was based on Christopher Isherwood's semi-autobiographical novel, Goodbye to Berlin.
Cats
A slightly different type of adaptation came with Cats. A collection of T. S. Elliot's poems about cats were published in 1939 in a book called Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.
The poems were used as lyrics in Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1981 musical Cats which was at one point the longest running musical both in the West End and on Broadway.
The Color Purple
Alice Walker's 1982 novel The Color Purple has been voted one of the UK's most loved books and Alice became the first Black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
The novel was adapted into a film by Steven Spielberg in 1985 and a musical that explores more of the themes included in the source material opened on Broadway in 2005. The musical version of The Color Purple is now being adapted into a film.
Doctor Doolittle
During the First World War, Hugh Lofting began sending illustrations to his children about a physician who could talk to the animals. He went on to publish the stories with the first one released in 1920.
The stories had their first big screen adaptation in 1967 with Rex Harrison as the titular character. The film and stories were adapted for the stage with the first run taking place at the Hammersmith Apollo with Phillip Schofield in the leading role.
Gypsy
Gypsy Rose Lee, who was famous for her striptease act, released her autobiography titled Gypsy: A Memoir in 1957. The book served as the inspiration behind Jules Styne, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents' iconic 1959 musical, Gypsy.
Legally Blonde
Now many of us know that Legally Blonde was based on the hit 2001 film starring Reece Witherspoon, but did you know that the film was based on a book of the same name?
Author Amanda Brown wrote a novel based on her own experience at Stanford Law School. Before the book was even published, the manuscript caught the attention of Hollywood and both the book and film were released in 2001 with the musical adaptation first opening in 2007.
Les Misérables
Victor Hugo's 1862 novel Les Misérables is considered one of the best novels of the 19th century and it's fair to argue that Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg's musical adaptation is one of the greatest musicals of all time. Having opened in the West End in 1985, it now holds the record as the world's longest running musical.
Mary Poppins
Mary Poppins made her debut in P. L. Travers' children's stories with the first book released in 1934. It took Walt Disney 20 years to convince Travers to allow the film to be made - but she wasn't a fan of the final product.
When she was approached by Cameron Mackintosh for the stage adaptation, one of her conditions was that nobody from the original film could be involved with the production. This meant that the Sherman Brothers were barred from writing the additional music.
Matilda
Roald Dahl's beloved story of an intelligent young girl that had telekinetic powers was brought to the stage in 2010 when it opened in Stratford-Upon-Avon. Matilda the Musical has music and lyrics by Tim Minchin transferred to the West End in 2011 and won an impressive seven Olivier Awards.
Oliver!
It's fair to say that Lionel Bart's musical, Oliver! is one of the most famous British musicals around. It's fitting considering the musical's source material, Oliver Twist was written by one of the most famous British authors, Charles Dickens.
The Phantom of the Opera
There have been many adaptions of Gaston Leroux's novel The Phantom of the Opera - including multiple musicals. But it's Andrew Lloyd Webber's version that became an icon of the genre of musical theatre.
The musical first opened in 1986 and is now the second longest running West End musical and the longest running Broadway show.
South Pacific
A collection of short stories about the Pacific Campaign in World War II by James A. Michener was published in 1947. The book won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was adapted into Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific which opened on Broadway in 1949.
Wicked
Considering Wicked's huge success as a musical, many don't know that the musical is in fact based on a novel. Gregory Maguire's Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West was first published in 1995.
It's worth mentioning that the content of the novel has much more adult themes compared to the musical adaptation.
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