'84 Charing Cross Road'

’84 Charing Cross Road’ was written as a book in1970 and then adapted for the stage in 1981. A brave choice to stage a relatively unknown play with today’s audiences, especially in the current climate.

As Helene Hanff, Alison Hawkesworth gave a good strong performance. Her American accent never faltered, so typical of an American Jew. This actress had a lovely tone to her voice and delivered the dialogue with ease.

Ian D jones as Frank Doel, the knowledgeable and mild-mannered manager of the bookshop gave another strong performance, however a lot of his dialogue was aimed at the audience and I would have liked to have seen him either typing or writing a response to Helene’s letters.

The rest of the staff employed by Marks & Co had little dialogue compared with the leads but all gave credible performances.

The set design was well thought out and worked extremely well. The acting area was lacking in depth but the Design Team coped admirably

A bittersweet production with some very good performances which created some excellent moments of good theatre.

Again this was quite a brave choice of play in the current climate and I would urge you to continue to be bold in your choices and help to push boundaries in non professional theatre.

Well done to everyone involved.

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