Evangelicals Now
<< November 2004 >>

The woman in white

All white on the night
THE WOMAN IN WHITE
Palace Theatre, London

'This is the story of what a woman's patience can endure, and what a man's resolution can achieve'. So begins Wilkie Collins's 1860 novel, a tale of mystery and intrigue, a story in which the polarities of light and dark, good and evil, masculine and feminine are set against each other through complex narrative and vivid characterisations.

It is not a novel that appears to lend itself to a stage dramatisation, a musical one at that. However, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and direction from Trevor Nunn, The Woman in White is an engaging and exhilarating production with strong performances and breath-taking sets.

The play opens on a misty evening in Cumberland as Walter Hartwright (his surname is a clue to his character!) travels to Limmeridge Hall to work as a drawing master. It is the set that immediately arrests the attention - the production uses computer-generated images throughout, allowing us to soar over rooftops, walk in the gardens of stately homes and see trains rattling by.

Walter is approached by a young woman. dressed all in white, trembling and fearful for her life. She warns him of great danger at Limmeridge Hall, but disappears before he can learn more or help her. It is this woman and her story, her connection with the inhabitants of the Hall that becomes the crux of the plot.

The Woman in White is not musical in the traditional sense, in that there is no spoken narrative whatsoever. It is entirely sung. The score is good Lloyd Webber fare - catchy, emotional and melodic. It lacks a really 'big number', but all is of a reasonably high quality. The performances of the cast are uniformly strong. A special mention must be made of Michael Crawford as a super-size Count Fosco. He was brilliantly comic as well as eerily sinister. His rendition of 'You can get away with anything' while dancing with a live white rat was a particular highlight!

The novel addresses Collins's various concerns about women's rights and the lack of legal protection of women in marriage, in matters of property and their role in society. The musical focuses less on this and more on the love story. It loses the disquieting darkness of the book , but succeeds in creating a performance that is jolly good fun.

H. van Hire