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84 Charing
Cross Road
Presented by:
1812
Theatre
Venue:
1812 Theatre,
Upper Ferntree Gully
Reviewer:
Chris Baldock - Theatrepeople Editor
Date Reviewed:
Wednesday
3rd June, 2009
Do
you remember those golden days when people all over the world, from
every walk of life, used to sit down for a few carefree hours and
scribe words on pieces of paper, pouring out their intimate thoughts
or writing about the events of their lives? Then putting those
pieces of paper in an envelope, putting an appropriately-priced
stamp on it and popping it in a mail box where it would be processed
and sent to the next town, state, country or far across the world?
And remember the expectant wait for the next few weeks to see if
there would be a reply to the missive and then the excited devouring
of the contents when it did arrive?
After seeing the 84 Charing Cross Road at 1812 Theatre, I
actually longed for the return of those giddy, halcyon days which
have slowly but surely died out with the advent of email and other
technological advancements.
Between 1949 and 1969 a unique relationship was developed between
New York writer Helene Hanff and the English book store
worker Frank Doel. This was a relationship created entirely
via letters in what started as a simple request for antiquarian
books by Helene. Over the next 20 years, with the passing of
decades, fashion changes and against some amusing clashes of
culture, a mutual respect and even a type of love develops.
And
so with this clever modern classic of a play, 20 years is condensed
into just over two hours with the question burning the entire time:
will these two charming opposites actually meet? To tell you the
answer to that will ruin some of the expectations the play builds up
but needless to say the ending will leave you reflecting long after
you’ve left the theatre. The fact that the play is told entirely by
the letters between the two protagonists, adds an interesting
element that could be very tedious dramatically if not played with
great skill.
Set
on a beautiful split stage designed by Chris Proctor, we are
immediately drawn into the contrasting worlds of Helene and
Frank – the old world charm of the London bookstore versus
the cramped rented apartment in New York. The bookstore was the more
successful set of the two as the antique furniture and Victorian
feel transcended the evolving decades. The apartment, in contrast,
contained a few pieces of furniture that did not entirely represent
the era it was trying to depict, including a replaced bookcase that
looked odd and at least ten years ahead of its time. Saying that,
the overall look of the two rooms was exquisite from the generously
filled bookcases and shop frontage, to the street exterior and
appropriate chairs and tables. And the books! Congratulations to
Christine Grant and 1812 for the procuring and choreography of all
those books! The transformation at the end was excellent although
the voice-over could have been much louder to cover the rather noisy
change.
Costumes were appropriate considering the minimal opportunities for
change - with Maxine, the American actress’s costume, a
particularly stunning stand out. Lighting was effective especially
in giving the bookshop the old-word charm but I would liked to have
seen more shifts in mood and tone especially for cast freezes that
looked odd without an accompanying lighting cue. The first real
change didn’t come until the end of Act One and jarred when we had
already jumped through several years and times of the day. Also I
felt the operation, when it did occasionally occur, could have been
a little more fluid – bleeding the cross fades from one to the
other. Instead they were quite abrupt and sometimes disturbed the
mood that was trying to be established. As did the couple of
incidences where the lights inexplicably flashed on and off. Music
choices were appropriate however the night I attended there was a
strange sound cue of an airplane that appeared to abruptly stop and
then recommence.
The
performances of the two leads overall were excellent. It took me a
while to warm to Alayne Wright’s Helene mainly because there
was little evidence of the wry Jewish American humour that the
English refer too. However that slowly seeped out as she relaxed and
her relationship with Frank warmed. From there-on-in we got a
beautifully sustained performance that was rich in pathos and with
nicely timed comedic delivery. Her John Donne “rant” was a
particular highlight. Her performance reminded me of the wonderfully
eccentric Emma Thompson in Stranger Than Fiction. I don’t
believe I had seen this actress before and if I have, she certainly
didn’t make an impression like she did in this role. I very much
look forward to seeing more of her work. Likewise, Keith Hutton as
Frank, always a strong, assured presence on stage, gave
another bravura performance as he transformed from stuffy, old-world
book keeper to an elderly respectful and warm-hearted man. Again the
first section of the play didn’t work for me as I would have liked
to have seen even more of the reserved, button-up English demeanor
if only to have given Keith a more contrasting arc theatrically. But
this is ultimately a two-hander and Christine Grant was very
fortunate to have these adept actors at hand.
The
rest of the cast was made up of Mandy Murray, Elena Onisiforou, Ian
Johnson, Graeme Doyle and Melinda Pritchard (dutifully doubling as
ASM). Save for Mandy, who also played the aforementioned Maxine
with great aplomb and class, all played bookshop workers over the
years and were choreographed beautifully as they went about their
daily work, celebrating the holidays together and sneaking the
occasional letter to Helene which afforded some of them the
opportunity to have their brief moment in the spotlight.
This was probably the most polished and assured production I have
seen directed by Christine Grant. Certainly the look of the piece
was beautiful and a lot of work and care was put into ensuring the
play flowed smoothly and the action always interesting. I did wish
that more “moments” were created or more fully realized as the
entire night seemed very much on one predictable and safe level with
some potentially poignant moments, including the end, rushed. In my
mind this would have drawn us in even more and made these characters
more accessible to us.
Overall however this was a charming, and I must say, surprisingly
delightful night of theatre. If you have never seen this play or
indeed visited 1812 Theatre before, then this evening comes highly
recommended.
A director of over 40 productions and an actor in over 80, Chris is
a highly respected director/actor in the "straight" theatre scene
with 4 Victorian Drama League Awards, 2 Lyrebird awards and over 30
other theatre awards to his credit. His production of The Laramie
Project for Act-o-Matic 3000 at Chapel off Chapel won the Victorian
Green Room Award for Best Independent Production as well as making
many of the year's "Best" lists and earning a rare 5-star review in
The Sunday Age, and his production of Love! Valour! Compassion! for
the Midsumma Festival was named by the Herald Sun as one of the best
productions of the year. He has also received Music Theatre Guild
nominations for performance (The Duke in MUMCo's Big River) and
direction (the Victorian première of A Slice of Saturday Night at St
Martins). He has been an in-house adjudicator for many theatre
companies as well as the Victorian Drama League Awards and the
Victorian Music Theatre Guild Awards. He has recently directed
Cloudstreet for Heidelberg Theatre Company and will be following
that with The Elephant Man for Malvern Theatre Company and
Kindertransport for Williamstown Little Theatre. By day Chris is a
manager for a major Ombudsman's scheme. In what little spare time he
has, he sleeps!
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