The Woman in White

How good it was to be back with the members of Second Thoughts on opening night of The Woman in White after an all too long break due to the pandemic.

This was a new venue for the society. Social distancing was required to be in place by the venue however looking on the positive side the audience all had an excellent view as a result.

The Woman in White adapted from the novel by Wilkie Collins was written in 1859. It was seen as an early example of detective fiction and was listed in 2003 as number 23 in The Observer’s top 100 greatest novels of all time!

The setting throughout is Limmeridge House in Cumberland and takes place over a period of some eight months from July 1861 to March 1862. The plot deals with the fates of Laura Fairlie and Anne Catherick, the latter being a young woman who has escaped from an asylum in London and bears a striking resemblance to Miss Fairlie. Walter Hartright, a young art teacher, is sent to teach Laura and her devoted half-sister Marion Halcombe but falls in love with Laura despite her being betrothed to Sir Percival Glyde and Laura is due a substantial marriage settlement which would go to her husband should she die without leaving an heir. Sir Percival gives a most favorable impression at first, but his manner soon changes as soon as they are married and return from honeymoon in Italy bringing with them Glyde’s friend Count Fosco and his wife. After he hears of Laura’s untimely death Walter Hartright returns to Limmeridge House to find out what happened to her and how Anne Catherick was ultimately involved.

A theme of the story is the unequal position of married women in law at the time. Laura Glyde's interests have been neglected by her uncle and her fortune of £20,000 (then an enormous sum of money) by default falls to her husband on her death. It also deals with how women at the time could be imprisoned in lunatic asylums if they became embarrassing or inconvenient to their husbands.

Georgina Monk as Laura Fairlie /Anne Catherick gave a convincing performance of both characters and must be commended for being able to switch between the two with ease. Emma Beasley as Marion Holcombe was able to portray the worried older sister perfectly and together with Tom Purchase Rathbone’s strong performance as Walter Hartright, were able to unravel the mystery surrounding Laura’s death and Anne’s disappearance.

The villains of the piece, Tim Guest as Sir Percival Glyde and Brian Emeney as Count Fosco, were suitably nasty enough to give the impression of underlying menace without being too over the top in their performances. Kate Guest as Countess Fosco added to this menacing atmosphere with her silence but always appearing when you least expected her!

Margot McCleary gave a very good supporting performance as Mrs Vesey, the housekeeper who had looked after Laura since childhood and ultimately helped Walter and Marion to restore Laura’s stolen identity.

The set was good and most of the furniture fitted well with the period although one or two items were a little modern but in these strange times drama groups have to adapt and make use of what is available to them, but this didn’t detract from the story. Special mention must however be made regarding a very realistic ‘marble’ fireplace made by Ian McLean.

Costumes and props were good as was the lighting throughout.

Congratulations to Second Thoughts for managing to rehearse and put on a performance during what is still very trying times for theatre.

I look forward to seeing everyone again in Improbable Fiction back at the Bear Pit Theatre in March 2022.

Andy Brown

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