DC Metro Theater Arts: The Woman in Black

Woman In Black, Production-362It’s good that the Keegan Theatre has not modernized its home on Church Street yet for the musty, slightly decrepit, and highly atmospheric surroundings of this venerable old building make a perfect setting for the suspense and spine-tingling excitement of their current production of playwright Stephen Mallatratt’s The Woman In Black. Directors Colin Smith and Mark A. Rhea pace the proceedings with consummate skill and do a bang-up job of guiding their cast of two…

The two main characters, played by Matthew Keenan (Actor) and Robert Leembruggen (Mr. Kipps), are experts at pantomime and sheer physical presence…Much of the stage action is left up to the audience’s imagination and it is to the credit of these two fine actors that they succeed so admirably in drawing the spectator into this dark world of suspense. Keenan has a wonderful lithe agility and sense of freedom…Leembruggen possesses a beautifully modulated speaking voice as he delivers each part he plays with gusto…It takes tremendous versatility to play such a variety of roles.

Every production that this theatre group puts on is always propelled in purely disciplined  theatrical terms to serve the purpose of the playwright  with no narcissistic or trendy stylistic flourishes.”

Woman In Black, Production-457Technical effects employed to achieve the theatrical wizardry involved in this play are superbly executed by the Technical Production team. Scenic Design by Colin Smith is beyond superb … Costume Design by Kelly Peacock evokes the past period wonderfully. The Sound Design by Tony Angelini is ominous and chilling.

Read the Full Review at DC Metro Theater Arts