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Horror story is scary good

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By KATHY L. GREENBERG

Tribune correspondent

Published: October 23, 2009

Updated:

I am a confirmed ghost story/horror fanatic. I've seen and read so many hellacious tales, I've become desensitized to just about every spook out there. But once in a while, the Bogeyman catches me unaware and sets my heart racing. Such was the case with the Gorilla Theatre's production of "The Woman in Black," Stephen Mallatratt's adaptation of the 1983 novel by Susan Hill.

Arthur Kipps (Glenn Gover) enlists the help of an actor (Christopher Rutherford) to translate his diary, in which he's recorded terrifying events, into a public performance. Kipps believes that sharing the details of his past will exorcise the history that has plagued him.

Years ago, Kipps had traveled to a small English town as the solicitor to Alice Drablow's estate. While attending the old widow's funeral, Kipps spied a strange woman dressed in black. Later, he began to see and hear more strange things: a horse and cart trapped in the marshes, screams and, again, the haunting vision of the woman in black. As the story unfolds, Kipps learns of the Drablow family's secret and the tragedy it precipitated, prompting the question, "Will history repeat itself?"

The multitalented Ami Sallee Corley directed this spine-tingling production. She blocked her actors to get the creepiest effect, just as lighting designer Keith Arsenault and sound designer Chris "Dickie" Corley manipulated the senses with sound and shadow.

Gover and Rutherford seemed to have stepped right off the streets of Victorian London. Both actors gave superb performances.

So if you want to get in the Halloween spirit, forget "Rocky Horror" and see this play.

Today's birthdays

Baseball Hall of Famer Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., is 78. Soccer great Pele is 69. Community activist Martin Luther King III is 52. Parodist "Weird Al" Yankovic is 50. CNN medical reporter Sanjay Gupta is 40.

Source: The Associated Press

THEATER REVIEW

The Woman in Black

WHEN: Through Nov. 8; 7 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 3 and 7 p.m. Sunday

WHERE: Gorilla Theatre, 4419 N. Hubert Ave., Tampa

HOW MUCH: $20 to $25; call (813) 879-2914 or visit www.gorilla -theatre.com

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