The Maskers presented 84 Charing Cross Road directed by Belinda Drew

 at The Plaza Theatre, Romsey  in April 1990

The shop was Marks & Co, the lady, a merry New Yorker who didn't believe in being formal. Instead of writing orders for books, she wrote "long, goofy letters" first to Frank Doel, the manager, and then to members of his staff and family. Fortunately she kept all the letters, and this extraordinary relationship was revealed first in a book, then in a BBC television play starring Frank Finlay, and later in James Roose-Evans faithful adaptation as a stage play, first performed, incidentally, at the Salisbury Playhouse in 1981. The play was a huge success in London and a monumental flop on Broadway, but regained success when the film was made of this delightful story starring Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins.

In October 1949 Helene Hanff wrote the following letter to Marks & Co Booksellers:

Your ad in the Saturday Review of Literature says that you specialise in out-of-print books. The phrase 'antiquarian booksellers' scares me somewhat, as I equate 'antique' with expensive. I am a poor writer with an antiquarian taste in books and all the things I want are impossible to get over here except in very rare editions, or in Barnes & Noble's grimy, marked up schoolboy copies..................

The Cast

For The Maskers

A note from the Director

To increase the intimacy of the feelings of the characters, I decided to include live music during the course of the action, rather than the normal taped sound effect, based almost entirely around one theme, "Deep Purple", which many of you recognised. Michael Patterson, known to many of you as a director for the company, played the piano.

Belinda Drew, Director