The Woman In Black: Into the Archives with Alex Moran

Actor Alex Moran - currently starring in Northern Broadsides' Quality Street - is a huge fan of The Woman in Black, so we spent an afternoon exploring the archive and chatting all things horror with him...

It was our pleasure to welcome actor Alex Moran into the SJT archive, based on his absolute love and passion for The Woman in Black.

Alongside delving in boxes and chatting about memories of the show here in Scarborough – our Press Officer Jeannie saw the very first spine-chilling performance in the Theatre in the Round back in 1987 – we caught up with Alex about his love of the show and where it all began.

“I was 14 years old, and Mrs Whittam took us to London on our first school drama trip.

“I knew I wanted to be an actor - I was really interested in theatre. When I was around 11/12 years old I was part of the drama department and we always saw these huge productions like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Bombay Dreams and Blood Brothers – I just thought all shows were like that, and I certainly didn’t realise horror theatre was a thing at all.

“I first saw The Woman in Black at Covent Garden’s Fortune Theatre, where it’s recently ended its run after an amazing 13,232 performances. I must have seen it - what? 14-15 times now? - all in different venues over the years. I’ve read Susan Hill's novel – it put the hairs up on the back of my neck - and seen the film, but nothing compares to seeing it at the Fortune, especially for the first time. It literally changed my life.

“Herford’s direction is incredible, and you just feel entirely in the auditorium with them. It’s incredibly clever. I love how a wicker basket can be loads of different things, from a train carriage, a pony and trap, a bed, even a London office: it blew my mind! I never thought theatre could be done like that, and that two actors could hold my attention so beautifully.

"I knew immediately that was how I wanted to make theatre.

“It's great to be back at the SJT with Northern Broadsides and Quality Street. I was previously here in 2019 with an adaptation of The Body Snatcher by my company Thunder Road, but during the pandemic I decided I really wanted to do something inspired by The Woman in Black.

And so Shock Horror was born!"

A kind of Stranger Things meets The Woman in Black, the story centres on Herbert, a horror movie fanatic and film-maker who’s returned to the derelict Metropol cinema to present his best film yet - Shock Horror.

As the plot unravels, the audience realise that this particular cinema holds deep and frightening memories for Herbert; the place he spent the majority of his dysfunctional childhood, his memories flit from his father’s obsession with only screening horror films, to hiding from his deranged mother, a woman who’s perpetually consumed by ‘the darkness in the walls’.

Alex continues:

“I can’t wait to find some more Woman in Black secrets and facts in the archive! It was 1987 when it opened, the year I was born, and I’d love to get access to things I’d never normally be able to see – maybe read Jeannie’s original review and see some original photos and prints.

“The Woman in Black was born in Scarborough, and this is the closest I’ll ever get to where it all began.”

 Shock Horror tours this autumn – find out where you can experience it here.