So, FELT IF is done and dusted, and a great success it was! However, lurking in the shadows behind the sketches and under the bench has been something dark and malevolent. Something haunting and insubstantial. Since September a director and actor have been lime-lighting from FELT IF and two other actors have been meeting each week to rehearse a near duologue. In the shadows a rocking chair has been creaking...

Beth Morton, not content with writing and directing The Bench, chose to take-on the direction of Stephen Mallatratt's stage adaptation of Susan Hill's book The Woman in Black. If you are unfamiliar with the story, you should know that it has been a very successful play in London's West End for quite a while. A recent film adaptation starring Harry Potter star Daniel Ratcliffe also brought it to peoples' attention. If you would like me to tell you about it, you won't get much out of me apart from it being a ghost story and that there is a woman in black. Revealing too much will spoil us being able to scare the bejesus out you in the theatre.

Plays performed by the Finn-Brit Players are usually rehearsed over three to four months. Breaking with tradition, this play will have been in rehearsal for seven to eight months by the time it is performed to a public audience. Why so? Beth will be returning to live in the UK just before Christmas this year but was so keen to direct this play that she partnered with Joan Nordlund. Beth has controlled the majority of the direction to date, and Joan will continue in her absence in the New Year. Additionally, due to FELT IF, we have only been rehearsing once a week instead of twice.

How have rehearsals been going? Very well! It is a pleasure for me to go to rehearsal each week and work with like-minded actor Daniel McMullen, dark and mysterious Marietta Chela, and have such wonderfully talented and experienced directors. I don't think I have ever been involved in a show that has progressed as well as this one!

So, where and when can you see the show? Ah. There's the slight snag. Due to the booking policy of the theatre of choice, they will not confirm our booking until after the end of December this year. I know.... It may make our blocking (all our movements on stage) somewhat difficult if we can't use this theatre. Fear not though! An alternative theatre is ready and waiting if that becomes necessary. The upshot is that we cannot confirm dates and venue until early next year.

As for us, we are very excited and can't wait! So excited that we are previewing the play in the form of a rehearsed reading this Friday before a small restricted audience. This gives us a chance to try many of our ideas to see how well they can be done and where they can be improved. The result will be an even better show for you our loyal audience next year!

Stay tuned for more WiB blogging in the near future!