How Sound is Used in The Woman In Black

I saw a production of the play The Woman In Black at the Theatre Royal in Windsor. The play is set in England in Victorian times. This play really put me on the edge of my seat in some scenes and terrified the life out of me in others, the sound in the play really did go a long way to achieving this.

Sound is very important in this production as it creates tension, makes the play nerve-shredding and really helps to tell the story as the stage is set as a minimalistic stage so the sound is vital to the story telling. The director (Robin Hearford) hired Rod Mead as the designer of sound. One scene Rod Mead uses sound effectively is where Kipps was sleeping at Eel Marsh house. The sound used here was non-diegetic and was a low rhythmical thudding. Thiss was a very good use of sound as it created an eerie atmosphere. This sound was played from speakers positioned around the audience to make the audience feel involved in the play. I thought this was a great use of sound as it really created a sense mystery and the audience didn’t know what would happen next.

Rod Mead used sound effectively in many ways. Often he used it to legitimise the location of a scene for example in the graveyard where Jerome and Kipps are paying their respects to Mrs. Drablow. There was a recorded sound of ravens which is a noise associated with death and hauntings. The non-diegetic sound was played from speakers which were behind the actors. This makes it realistic for the audience because Rod Mead is making us use our senses to make us more in depth and into the story, it’s making the audience experience what ‘The Actor’, who in this scene is playing Kipps, experienced. This is clever as it builds tension because it is bringing the audience deeper and deeper into the story and is enhancing the separation from the real world and as it was a minimalistic stage setting the sound was really important as it was the main sense the audience had to picture the scene.I thought this was a brilliant use of choosing to place the sound and it really supported the action that was going on, onstage. Also there is a reverb on the vicar’s voice. This is implying that the church was mostly empty and makes the audience wonder about why Mrs. Drablow was so unpopular.

Another way sound is used effectively is in the office scene where Kipps and Jerome are talking at Jerome’s desk. In this scene Rod Mead uses non-diegetic sound really well to create an extremely clear atmosphere. In the background there was the sound of the busy market place, w