Rarely will anyone see a simple stage horror done so well as The Woman In Black. 

Fresh off the West End, the long-running theatrical ghost story came to The Wyvern Theatre, and screams didn't take long to fill the auditorium. 

On paper, there's not a lot to this stage show with it appearing as a far cry from the big-budget Daniel Radcliffe-led film.

The cast is small with the majority of the action carried by just two actors - one playing a sceptical young actor and the other playing the elderly lawyer seemingly obsessed with a curse, with both then putting on a performance-within-a-performance to play other characters. 

The stage is mostly bare with the odd chair, a door and a few other static objects making up most of the scenery, except for particular moments when the suspense and tension have been ratcheted up a bit. 

But a masterful combination of superb acting, clever lighting and sound and a little imagination helps the foggy marshes, the spectral visions and the abandoned haunted house all come to life. 

It takes a while for the mystery surrounding the eponymous woman in black to get going with lots of drawn-out moments of dialogue. But these are crucial to making the sudden loud noises, the dramatic ethereal shrieking, moments involving a creepy music box and a creaking rocking chair and an uncredited third performer acting as a ghost all elicit responses from the Swindon audience. 

While described as one of the scariest performances ever to grace a stage, it ultimately relies on cheap tricks or what many will know as jump-scares, but thankfully they are spread through a ghost story that is chilling and twisty enough to support them. 

The night that I saw it was particularly buoyed by the presence of a large school group whose own reactions and screams became part of the enjoyment of the performance and helped to elevate it. 

A lot is going on in Woman in Black - there are layers to the performances, layers to the story, layers to each object and item of staging and layers to the story itself, which contains its own meta-commentary on performance. 

This helps to make it one of the finest examples of how all of the specific and unique elements of theatre can come together to create something truly lasting and compelling, and yes, at times frightening.

The screams from the audience came thick and fast and didn't stop until the very last moment. 

For tickets, visit: https://trafalgartickets.com/wyvern-theatre-swindon/en-GB/event/play/the-woman-in-black-tickets