What better coincidence than for the beloved local Langham Court Theatre to be starting off its 84th season with a production of 84 Charing Cross Road. Based on a best-selling and cult classic novel, it’s the true story of the 20-year correspondence spanning the 1940s to 1960s between New York City author Helene Hanff and Frank Doel, an antiquarian bookseller for Marks & Co in London, England.
It may be billed as a comedy, but leading actor Roger Carr describes the play as a gentle, whimsical romance celebrating books and the lost art of letter writing.
“While I’m not quite as old as the people in the play, I certainly used to use the mail a lot as a younger guy, writing letters to people back and forth,” says Carr. “But nothing, nothing like the correspondence that takes place between Helene and Frank.”
In these days of instantaneous communication, letter writing is no longer a usual way of corresponding, but some people still remember the days when it was. Langham Court manager Denise Brown recalls having many pen pals, but one in particular was a huge part of her life.
“When I was 16 and I received those letters, it was a big deal. I was waiting for this thing for like a week, or two weeks, or however longÉ and you get to see the person’s handwriting, that’s something you don’t get anymore,” says Brown. “You can tell a lot by somebody’s handwriting, just like you can tell a lot by somebody’s body language. Handwriting is kind of like body language on paper.”
The book, which was made into a successful film, was not without its challenges when being mounted onstage, according to Carr.
“The play has its problems because it was originally written as a novel,” says Carr. “It made a very good film with Anthony Hopkins and Anne Bancroft. But the staging of it is much more difficult.”
Because the book takes place over a span of 20 years, showing the time passing on stage was a bit problematic, says Carr.
“The other problem is if you imagine sitting in the theatre for two hours watching a play in which you have people reading their bloody letters to each other, you would get bored out of your tree. So one of the considerations of the director is to make sure that we don’t just end up spewing a bunch of words at each other or into the ether. We’ve turned it into a very alive and emotional thing,” he says.
Carr says not to expect belly laughs or slapstick, but rather a lovely, touching relationship between two people.
Meanwhile, Brown is very much looking forward to the production happening at Langham Court Theatre.
“It’s a charming piece; people should come see it,” she says. “It’s a little bit of nostalgia, but at the same time is a well-loved, classic novel. 84 Charing Cross Road no longer exists in London, so it’s a piece of history, too.”
84 Charing Cross Road
Until October 20
Langham Court Theatre, $16–21
langhamtheatre.ca