'Woman in Black' comes to Glen Ellyn

"The Woman in Black"3 stars (out of four)A knowing smile flickered across the face of a fellow critic when I told her I was seeing "The Woman in Black," a play that has been running for 17 years in London's West End, for the first time."It's a great show," she said of Stephen Mallatratt's psychological thriller - a chilling, well-told tale adapted from Susan Hill's novella about a mysterious woman haunting a remote, British coastal town."It's a great show if they do it right," she added.Buffalo Theatre Ensemble does it right.Director Amelia Barrett does a fine job sustaining tension in this taut, two-hour thriller starring Robert Jordan Bailey and Kurt Naebig. For this ghost story to work, the principals must be not only good actors, but deft story tellers as well. Happily, Bailey and Naebig (serving as actors and narrators) succeed on both accounts.A play-within-a-play that recalls the short stories of James and Edgar Allan Poe, "The Woman in Black" centers on London solicitor Arthur Kipps (Naebig). Traumatized years earlier during a case involving the settlement of the estate of an elderly widow, he enlists the aid of an actor (Bailey) to help him recreate the events theatrically so that he can purge the curse that has plagued him ever since.Mallatratt uses the collaboration between Kipps and the actor portraying him to frame the play. The first act, which consists primarily of setup, juxtaposes the past - in the form of Kipp's recollections with the present - expressed through rehearsals with the actor. They unfold in a modest Victorian theater, expertly transformed into an eerie estate and desolate graveyard by designer Galen G. Ramsey, whose expert sound and lighting brilliantly convey a sense of place. (Truly, the success of BTE's production rests as much with Ramsey's evocative effects as anything else.)But it's the spine-tingling second act, after Mallatratt dispenses with literary devices and delves fully into this story - which is really about coming to terms with grief and loss - that makes this seasonal tale worth seeing.Location: McAninch Arts Center, College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn Times: 8 p.m. Thursdays to Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays through Oct. 14 Running time: About two hours, including intermissionTickets: $17-$30Box office: (630) 942-4000 or www.atthemac.orgRating: For adults