woman in black

I went last night to see a play in the West End called The Woman In Black. This is a play based on a book, and it was made into a film back in 1989.

I had no idea what the play was about before going to see it, though I had heard that it was supposed to be good and also scary.
Intrigued at the idea of being scared by a stage production, I waited in anticipation. And nearly fell asleep in the first 20 minutes.
I can't fault the acting, nor can I really fault the screenplay, I think they did quite a good job of it considering. Perhaps I just have high standards for scary stories... Needless to say I was somewhat bemused by the enthusiastic screaming coming from the rest of the audience throughout though there were some very effectively spinechilling moments in the play. One scene that I quite liked was this door that had been locked with no handle or bolts - after a ghostly scream in the dark the lights came back on and a handle had mysteriously appeared on the door... The main character hears an odd sound coming from upstairs so he goes through the door and upstairs to see a rocking chair rocking manically by itself. Very nice. In the end though, I was paralysed with fear in my seat throughout the play, but this was due to the fact that I had a seat in the gods, and it was a long long way down to the stage... I managed to scare myself half to death imagining scenarios in which I fell down the aisle and off the balcony..

Still. I went to bed at about midnight after a dose of Desperate Housewives to be suddenly awoken by a very loud creak in the bedroom. I half expected to see a woman with a white face staring at me when I opened my eyes :)