West End thriller to
Scare you
ACTOR Malcolm James is looking forward to visiting Llandudno in a couple of weeks time.
The Walsall-born actor plays Arthur Kipps, the leading role in Woman in Black. The play, based on the novel of the same name by Susan Hill is one of the most famous West End plays of all time and is described as “spine-tinglingly scary”.
But his sister lives in the town and Malcolm is looking forward to walking on the Great Orme and some swimming.
“We don’t see each other very often so I’m looking forward to spending some time with her.
“We were raised in Walsall which is almost as far as you can get from the coast but we used to spend two weeks each summer at the seaside and now we both live near the coast,” he said.
“We’re approaching the end of the tour which started last autumn. But its a great part and still very exciting,” he said.
But what’s it like scaring the living daylights out of people night after night?
“People like to be terrified in a safe environment like a theatre. It means we can face our darkest fears and then go home again.
” There is quite a lot of humour in the opening sections, to lull people into a false sense of security.
“But it is fascinating how people’s reactions vary. Sometimes the audience is very vocal and gets carried away, especially when we have school children in because it is a GCSE text and they sometimes try to out scream each other.
“Or there is a really weighted silence that makes people jump. But there is always a feeling of dread, of suspense, and its very psychological. It is a rollercoaster of a show,” he said.
Playing seven characters in all, Malcolm needs to keep his wits about him.
“It’s a very technical show and there are lots of costume changes,” he added.
Woman in Black is at Venue Cymru from June 22-27 at 7.30pm Matinees on Wednesday and Saturday.
Tickets from 01492 872000/venuecymru.co.uk