JULIAN Forsyth and Antony Eden have both appeared in The Woman In Black in its 23 years in the West End at the Fortune Theatre, but not together.

Since last October, they have been touring Stephen Mallatratt’s adaptation of Susan Hill’s novel, reprising the roles they first played in London.

On Monday, the tour arrives in York, sending The Woman In Black into the home of the Theatre Royal’s resident ghost, the Grey Lady, and Julian back to theatre where he was part of Andrew McKinnon’s repertory company in 1986.

“Each theatre brings its own atmosphere to the play because the story is set in a theatre,” says Julian. “If you’re in one of those old theatres, it’s even more atmospheric, especially one where they like to tell you that the theatre is haunted – like the chairman of the Friends of the Darlington Civic Theatre, who said there were nine ghosts there, including the ghost of a dog.

“So that could be interesting in York, if the Grey Lady and the Woman in Black were to meet up and clash.”

For those of you not among the seven million in Britain, the United States, South America or Tokyo who have seen the play, Mallatratt’s adaptation tells the story of Arthur Kipps, a lawyer obsessed with a curse he believes has been cast over him and his family by the spectre of a “Woman in Black”.

Kipps engages a young actor to help him tell his story and exorcise the fear that grips his soul. It begins innocently enough, but as they reach further into his darkest memories, they find themselves caught in a world of eerie marshes and moaning winds. The borders between make-believe and reality begin to blur and the flesh begins to creep, as Julian’s Kipps and Eden’s character, The Actor, work the audience.

“We are so dependent on the audience using their imagination and buying into this strange story and the framing device of setting it in a theatre 50 years ago,” says Julian.

“I also think it’s an advantage to have done the play before, but also to be working with Antony. I did it with Chris Naylor at the Fortune Theatre for ten months and we got on very well, and now, working with a different actor, I’m discovering new things in it, playing opposite Antony.”

As in the West End, Julian and Antony are working with the show’s original director from the Scarborough premiere, Robin Herford, who has never relinquished the post since then.

“It’s very rare to have the original director still directing it, and what’s extraordinary is that Robin has retained such enthusiasm,” says Julian. “So, you can always try out different things but he has the almost authority to say ‘That’s really interesting, experiment with it’ or to say ‘No’ to an idea.

“He must be making comparisons with past productions all the time but he never makes you feel like that; he always treats it like it’s a fresh piece.”

And fresh it indeed is on its present tour. “You would think that with a three-week rehearsal process going into the West End, you would have covered everything, but whatever it was, perhaps the stimulus of working with a new actor, you think of something new,” says Julian.

“Or when you see someone else in the role, and I’ve seen three or four other casts, you think, ‘Ooh, maybe I can steal that bit’. We have that freedom to try things out and that freedom continues during the run.

“Sometimes I’ll make Kipps a little more stern, with his military background, and I don’t tell Antony I’ll be doing that, and he has to work harder that because of that, which he really enjoys.”

Analysing The Woman In Black’s abiding popularity, Julian concludes: “It’s more than just a ghost story. Yes, you will scream, but it’s also quite a deep piece. Susan Hill’s story is about the heroism of people just getting on with it when their lives are blighted.

“It’s also constantly challenging for the actors, so we never get bored with it.”

• PW Productions’ tour of The Woman In Black haunts York Theatre Royal, Monday to Saturday, 7.30pm nightly plus 2pm, Thursday, and 2.30pm, Saturday. Box office: 01904 62356 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk