Casting and full tour dates announced for Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black, as it returns for a 22-venue UK Tour.
The production will star John Mackay as Arthur Kipps and Daniel Burke as The Actor, opening at Storyhouse, Chester on Wednesday 24 September 2025.
For 33 years THE WOMAN IN BLACK played a record-breaking run in the West End, with over 13,000 performances at the Fortune Theatre before its final performance on Saturday 4 March 2023. It has also been seen by over 7 million people in the UK.
Stephen Mallatratt’s adaptation of Susan Hill’s best-selling novel tells the story of a lawyer obsessed with a curse that he believes has been cast over his family by the spectre of a ‘Woman in Black’. He engages a young actor to help him tell his story and exorcise the fear that grips his soul. It begins innocently enough, but as they delve further into his darkest memories the borders between make-believe and reality begin to blur and the flesh begins to creep.
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. Reviews were sufficiently encouraging (apart from The Independent, who regretted the production’s inability to incorporate a live dog) to warrant a West End run. 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 7, 1989.
Throughout the production’s run in the West End and during its many tours the producer has been determined to keep ticket prices within the range of students and young people, a policy that continues today.
THE WOMAN IN BLACK is directed by Robin Herford, with designs by Michael Holt and lighting by Kevin Sleep.
WEDNESDAY 24 – SATURDAY 27 SEPTEMBER
CHESTER STORYHOUSE
TUESDAY 30 SEPTEMBER – SATURDAY 4 OCTOBER
SHREWSBURY THEATRE SEVERN
WEDNESDAY 8 – SATURDAY 25 OCTOBER
ALEXANDRA PALACE
TUESDAY 28 OCTOBER – SATURDAY 1 NOVEMBER
BARNSTAPLE QUEEN’S THEATRE
TUESDAY 4 – SATURDAY 8 NOVEMBER
THEATRE ROYAL PLYMOUTH
TUESDAY 18 – SATURDAY 22 NOVEMBER
THEATRE ROYAL BRIGHTON
TUESDAY 25 – SATURDAY 29 NOVEMBER
RICHMOND THEATRE
TUESDAY 2 – SATURDAY 6 DECEMBER
THEATRE ROYAL BATH
TUESDAY 6 – SATURDAY 10 JANUARY 2026
DARLINGTON HIPPODROME
TUESDAY 13 – SATURDAY 17 JANUARY
GRAND OPERA HOUSE, YORK
TUESDAY 20 – SATURDAY 24 JANUARY
THEATRE ROYAL GLASGOW
TUESDAY 27 – SATURDAY 31 JANUARY
THE ALEXANDRA, BIRMINGHAM
TUESDAY 3 – SATURDAY 7 FEBRUARY
CHELMSFORD THEATRE
TUESDAY 10 – SATURDAY 14 FEBRUARY
OXFORD PLAYHOUSE
TUESDAY 17 – SATURDAY 21 FEBRUARY
LIGHTHOUSE POOLE
TUESDAY 24 – SATURDAY 28 FEBRUARY
LIVERPOOL PLAYHOUSE
TUESDAY 10 – SATURDAY 14 MARCH
THEATRE ROYAL, NOTTINGHAM
TUESDAY 17 – SATURDAY 21 MARCH
ALHAMBRA THEATRE, BRADFORD
TUESDAY 24 – SATURDAY 28 MARCH
PETERBOROUGH NEW THEATRE
TUESDAY 31 MARCH – SATURDAY 4 APRIL
MALVERN THEATRE
TUESDAY 7 – SATURDAY 11 APRIL
SOUTHAMPTON MAYFLOWER STUDIOS
TUESDAY 14 – SATURDAY 18 APRIL
YVONNE ARNAUD THEATRE, GUILDFORD
