The Woman in Black was created from the novel by Susan Hill at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough in Yorkshire twenty-two years ago. The play has been running in London's West End for over twenty years - the second longest running production after Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap.

So what is the "mystique"? Whether we admit it or not I believe we harbour a belief in the spirit world and most of us are fascinated by ghost stories. Second, I think one of the reasons for this play's success is the journey it takes you on. Like all good thrillers it reveals little by little with the inevitable twist at the end, but always sparking our imagination.

Another reason I think this play works is the clever idea (not unique but still fascinating) of an actor playing many parts, and finally as Kipps says in the play "sound and light".

I cannot remember how many cues the stage manager calls in this production, but most standard shows would have about 20 sound and light cues, we have here, I am sure, about 150!

I am grateful to past and present artistic directors, Jeremy Tow and Mark DuMez, for letting me not only direct but appear in The Woman in Black and I hope we entertain you with our production.

Biography

Bernard has been a regular visitor to CTF for the past 10 seasons, both as an actor and as a director. Some of his work here includes A Perfect Wife, Hay Fever, An Inspector Calls and The Importance of Being Earnest. He has just returned from the Pittsburgh Irish Classic Theatre in the U.S.A. where he played the role of Hector in Alan Bennett's brilliant play History Boys, the same role that he played in Vancouver last fall. His most recent directing credits include Relatively Speaking at Presentation House in North Vancouver and Coram Boy for United Players also in Vancouver, which is home for him. After The Woman in Black he will reprise for a third year his role as Clarence the Angel in the Arts Club Theatre's production of It's a Wonderful Life. Bernard is a member of the B.C. Walk of Fame!