84, CHARING CROSS ROAD
I wish my friend could see Chicago Cooperative Stage’s well-conceived, superbly directed production of 84, Charing Cross Road because then she could find out how truly intimate theater can be. Especially in a space as small as Chicago Cooperative’s stage, where the performance area is about the size of a large living room and the audience is seated around the perimeter of the space. You can’t help but feel close to characters in a play when they stand only a few feet away or literally brush against you as they enter or exit the scene.
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Brian Parry, in the less challenging role of Doel, deserves note for the subtle life he gives to the reserved but caring bookseller. Reynolds and Parry make a perfectly natural couple onstage, which adds to the play’s implied and ever present question: will these two perfectly suited people–separated as they are by the Atlantic–ever get together? The way Doel and Hanff gently handle their books, caressing the leather covers, touching the smooth pages, savoring the smells, speaks volumes not only about the love the two share for books but also about the way books become their means of communicating an unstated love.
