With Halloween just around the corner, now is the perfect time for a brilliantly terrifying evening.

As luck would have it, The Woman in Black – which has been in the West End for 25 years and entertained more than 7 million people – comes to The Orchard Theatre in Dartford from Tuesday (October 7) to Saturday (October 11).

Adapted from the novel by Susan Hill, the set up is a lawyer telling a sceptical young actor his frightening tale as things get dark and creepy.

Matt Connor plays the actor.

He said: “In this play, my character is experiencing this for the first time with the audience whereas the other character has already been through it.

“I have to be on a par with the audience really, so when something happens I am experiencing it for the first time.”

Matt draws on his own feelings of fear for his performance.

He said: “For me, it is a similar feeling to watching a scary film.

“A really good scary movie is What Lies Beneath with Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfiefer. It’s quite similar to The Woman in Black, it’s just those two in a creeky house and it’s a bit of a slow burner.

“It stayed with me for days afterwards.”

He added: “People tend to enjoy a really good ghost story.

“We tend to enjoy being scared, but in a safe environment. I think we’re all intrigued by the mystery of the unknown. We all like the possibility that there is something out there that we can’t explain.”

The Woman in Black is at The Orchard Theatre from Tuesday (October 7) to Saturday (October 11). Go to orchardtheatre.co.uk or call 01322 220000.