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Page 28 THE HERALD Wednesday February 27 1991 Charing Cross Road an evocative event Theatre- ByJOHNSOMMER Herald Special Helene a New York and Frank a London book seller of antiquarian books exchange letters for 20 years She orders certain books and he hunts them up for her Slowly a friendship and something like love developes between the two The writer longs to travel to England but never manages Something always prevents her When Frank suddenly dies she makes a book from their cor The book is a bestseller and the money earned from it finally enables her to fly to England It s hard to believe that this simple story would make a good evening at the theatre but it does The stage version of Helene s book Charing Cross Road consists of these letters spoken by the characters living far away from each other but sharing a stage The letters are quite ordinary nothing unusual happens nor are the thoughts the letter writers express in any way striking And yet as one listens to these exchanges one is caught in the writers lives and one wishes they could meet but they never do I think this modest little play taken almost unchanged from real life is proof that the biographies of people don have to be extraordinary to be in There is pathos in or dinary life People get born they walk this planet for some years and they die Millions of ex are never recorded anywhere except in the most rudimentary documents Now something as simple as this play by no means easy to per form It takes a lot of care from the director to calm the for this play because overacting would kill it While this is not the greatest possible production of this play the director Neville Lois as is rather younger than the original but her longing for the England she knows from books only is rendered with conviction andcharm Ashley Windsor plays Frank a bit too old and fussy in the early scenes but he gets it right WW METAPHYSICAL INFO CENTRE TO AD IN YOUR FOR BOOKS FROM ASTROLOGY TO ZEN CRYSTALS PYRAMIDS OILS INCENSE OVER SO KINDS NEOCLASSICAL MEDITATION CLASSES TUMBLED STONES JEWELRY CERAMCS RUNES CARDS EHJQH1EN YOURSELF later on and the sight of the elderly man waiting gal for the woman who has lit a warm fire in his heart is very moving The stage design is good but could be even better if the shop windows of the bookstore would show the change of seasons in the city Only once are these windows used to that effect when one New Years Eve big snowfiakes drift past the glass and Frank sits at his desk wrapped in his overcoat wnting to Helene Helene s bohemian quarters are nicely suggested with a desk and a sofa and cushions In the store a huge packing crate bothered me after a while Would that thing stand there in everybody s way for years Aside from the two leads other actors had small supporting roles Sue Shiona Watson Ron Hunt Rick Knight and Joan Andrews filled them well Maureen Walker in her first stage appearance read the letter announcing s death in an even unbelhshed voice that made the message more riant Close to people helped the producer Dorothy Hunt to get everything ready The Georgetown Little Theatre has scheduled four more per formances of 84 Charing Cross Road for tonight Wednesday Thursday Friday and Saturday at the John Elliott Theatre in Georgetown Tickets are available at the John Elliott Theatre box office or at Royal LePage Real Estate of Guelph Street Georgetown In true British fashion the English contingent of the Georgetown Little Theatre production Charing Cross Road break for afternoon tea during a per of the play Cast members include front row left to right Ashley Windsor who plays Frank Watson playing Megan Wells Susan playing Cecily Far and Rick Knight playing Bill Humphries The play continues tonight Wednesday through to Mar 2 8pm at the John Elliott Theatre in Georgetown Herald photo THE POSTAGE BLOWOUT FOR FAST FREE DELIVERY TOWN J PLEASE PHONE 87751778 RESTAURANT 109 MAIN STREET SOUTH GEORGETOWN ONTARIO 1ECET can Cuiilne El Friday Saturday Sunday at m Salad Bar Shrimp Beef Ham Pork Soup Ch Jumbo Stumps Hot Sour Soup Beet ft Stump M Peanut Swell Sow Bill Chop Hot ft cj Chicken Vegetable Beef M ted Vegetables Bluk Steak Chow Mem BBQ Ribs Ch Ft ce Pock Deep Chicken Assorted Desserts person Children price Licenced Under L O Fast TokoOut Dollvory Service 87751067 DELREX SMOKE SHOP Georgetown Market Place 8779284 February We at The Delrex Smoke Shop would like to thank The Herald in helping us to inform the public of our new postal outlet located in the store One ad in particular The Postage Blowout really grabbed the imagination of our customers jointly put together Although it wasnt a large savings many people with smiling faces brought in the ad to take advantage of the savings As a new large spaoe advertiser with the Herald we are happy with the response we have been getting The Herald has been instrumental in letting our customers know the many services we have to offer Sincerely The Smoke Shop