84 Charing Cross Road

84 Charing Cross Road is an unusual piece in that the dialogue between the central characters is conducted in letters which start off being written on one side of the stage and complete their life-cycle being read on the other side.  This sounds formulaic, but the adaptation by James Roose-Evans (also known for his adaptation of Cider with Rosie) is varied and entertaining and engages the audience throughout.

The play is based on the book of the same name by Helene Hanff (plus the first chapter of her follow-up, The Duchess of Bloomsbury), in which she compiled her correspondence with antiquarian bookseller Frank Doel.  The Lyndhurst stage was split in two, with Hanff (Sarah Short) prowling between the desk, chair and improvised bookshelf of her New York  apartment, stage left, and the rest of the stage occupied by an atmospheric representation Marks & Co., complete with an upstage window with a view of Foyles bookshop on the opposite side of Charing Cross Road.

This was the second time I’d seen David Balfour playing a book dealer - the previous one being the grumpy protagonist of the farce Haywire.  Doel, by contrast is a more reserved Englishman whose business relationship unexpectedly warms into friendship as he tries to grapple with the apparent mood swings in Hannf’s letters requesting - and criticising - the shop’s merchandise.  Whilst the two central characters carry most of the play, Doel’s role is made slightly easier by the bustling atmosphere of the shop, ably created by the company playing the minor roles.

There are few big dramatic moments in the piece but the performances drew the audience into sympathy with the characters, expressed in a big collective sigh with the announcement of Frank Doel’s death before he and Hanff had ever met.  A heart-warming production.

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