Here's one for the books and in more ways than one: A play, production, and actors so good that one wishes it were longer. A struggling young writer working from her small apartment in New York, Helene Hanff hungers for classic literature of the ages but particularly Britain. She loves books others have loved or, at least, used. So in 1949 she gets in touch with Marks & Co., second-hand booksellers at 84 Charing Cross Road, London -- mailing a request and some dollar bills.
Soon outspoken, smart, opinionated, gin-sipping Helene is filling her orange crate shelves with further orders, taken care of personally by proper Frank Doel. A friendship, shared by other Marks employees, develops along with correspondence and orders. During World War II and its aftermath, with the English subject to severe rationing, she sends them holiday gifts of ham and powdered eggs. They respond with sincere gratitude and invitations aplenty to visit them. Opportunities elude her for decades of varying reasons, from dental bills to having to move to a more expensive, leased apartment. As she enjoys greater successes with her writing, some of the Marks people move to other positions, other countries.
Frank remains a constant, sending her works of one valued writer after another (Isaac Walton, Jane Austen, John Donne). She's never above making little complaints; he and his family are not always well. Yet their bond is extraordinary, built on an unspoken but keenly felt mutual understanding.
Extraordinary too are Trish Kessler and Les Clack's interpretations of Helene and Frank, as well as the chemistry between them. She's dissheveled working on a messy card table in oversize lumberjack shirt and mismatched socks but intense and genuinely intellectually excited. He's never without a tie, reserved and usually in a hurry at first, later cheerfully engaged in responses that are sometimes spontaneous, other times mulled over. It had even taken him a while to use his first name. It took her none to reveal her interior life via her comments on authors and their works.
Kessler with her authentic accent and Clack with his tally-ho briskness inhabit their characters fully. One is disappointed only not to see and hear more of them. No wonder this April 1st extraordinary performance had audience members asking if a repeat might be possible.
