Creating the ghost of Jennet Humfrye

  When the ghost of Jennet Humfrye is first seen on stage, Arthur Kipps refers to her face as having “skin stretched over her bones.” Another character also details how she contracted a disease where “the flesh shrank from her bones, the colour was drained from her, she looked like a walking skeleton – a living spectre.” Her expression appears to be malevolent as she died in “hatred and misery.” To create the best representation of the ghost, Benjamin considered these descriptions as well as how the makeup would be impacted by blocking, lighting design, and costume design. Benjamin exaggerated the sunken eye sockets and created pronounced features in the face to enhance the walking skeleton idea when she is exposed under lighting. Benjamin had to consider the color of the lighting by adding some shades of blue to the skin for an unearthly ghost effect and so that the red and warm gels would capture the details he added with stage creme makeup. To make her face seem as though the disease was melting her, Benjamin created wrinkles down her cheeks as if the skin was being supported by tendons. Her nose is button-like and her eyebrows have faux brown hair with brunette hair extensions in a bun so she would not seem elderly. In spring 2024, Benjamin learned how to create silicone prosthetics while working with Professor Heather Hogg in his honors level course of Fundamentals of Stage Makeup. During this course, Benjamin made a variety of silicone and latex prosthetics that helped him to develop skills for creating the silicone prosthetic of Jennet Humfrye’s face. Benjamin is grateful for her mentorship as this preparation allowed him to create a durable and long-lasting prosthetic that the actor wore while performing as Jennet Humfrye’s ghost. His makeup design for The Woman in Black was awarded second place at the Southeastern Theatre Conference’s design competition.