Eel Marsh House surveys the windswept reaches of the salt marshes beyond Nine Lives Causeway. Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor, is summoned to attend the funeral of the house's sole inhabitant, unaware of the tragic secrets which lie hidden behind the shuttered windows. It is not until he glimpses a wasted young woman, dressed all in black, that a creeping sense of unease begins to take hold, a feeling deepened by the reluctance of the locals to talk of the woman in black - and her terrible purpose. Years later, in desperation, he recounts his experiences to an actor for assistance in hopes that by presenting it publicly he can finally exorcise the ghosts of the past. The play unfolds around the conversations of these two characters as they attempt to act out the solicitor's experiences on Eel Marsh all those years ago.
The Woman in Black is based upon Susan Hill’s novel of the same name. It treads in the footsteps of the classic ghost story, following the tradition of Charles Dickens and Henry James. It is not a horror story or a tale of terror full of blood or gore, yet the events build up to a horrifying climax and instill a sense of terror. It relies on atmosphere, a vivid sense of place, on hints and glimpses and suggestions, on what is shadowy, heard and sometimes only half-seen, to chill the reader's blood to the marrow.