/THEATRE GHOST HUNT FOLLOWS SPOOKY STAGE SHOW

TELLING the tale of a menacing spectre that portends the death of children, The Woman In Black brings its chilling theatrical exploration of terror back to The Lowry next week. And if Susan Hill’s story wasn’t unnerving enough, theatre-goers brave enough can continue their evening with a night of ghost-hunting at Ordsall Hall after the show.

With its own ominous history, the Tudor manor has been the site of reported paranormal encounters including sightings of the mysterious White Lady - said to be the ghost of Lady Margaret Radclyffe - and the figure of a young girl named Cecily on the stairs.

A medium will guide audiences through the grade I listed manor and attempt to contact the spirits during the Woman In Black Ghost Night, which takes place after the Friday March 24 performance.

Returning for its eighth run at the Salford Quays theatre from March 20 to 25, the gripping production evokes the horror of Hill’s 1983 Gothic ghost story using potent powers of suggestion: a creaking chair, a slamming door.

Adapted for the stage by Stephen Mallatratt and directed by Robin Herford, the two-man show centres around lawyer Arthur Kipps (David Acton), who is convinced the ghoulish Woman In Black has cast a curse on him and his family.

In a desperate bid to exorcise the fear that grips his soul, he enlists an actor (Matthew Spencer) to help him tell his story. As they delve into his darkest memories, they find themselves caught up in a world of eerie marshes and moaning winds, where the boundaries between make believe and reality begin to blur.

Tickets are on sale now for the show, priced from £15.50 to £28.50 from thelowry.com. Young theatre-goers can also buy £10 tickets to the March 20 and 21 performances through The Lowry’s Under 26 scheme.

The ghost hunting package costs £62.50 including a show ticket, a postshow drink at Pier 8, travel to and from Ordsall Hall and the ghost tour itself.