When I undertook to review this play I was half expecting something in the genre of 84 Charing Cross Road – genial, familiar, cosy and knowing – but no surprises. When I walked out two hours later, largely unaware of the passage of time, I was clear that I had had my best night at the theatre this year by far. This play is a success on every front – pitch-perfect acting by both principals, inventive yet period-sensitive direction, imaginative yet never intrusive support from lighting and sound design, and above all a disarmingly affecting script from Ken Ludwig that lands precisely on the narrow, hard-to-find, strip of land between light comedy and sentimentality that we call romantic plausibility.
The play originates in the letters that the author’s future parents wrote to each other during World War Two, while he (Jack) is an army doctor in Oregon treating the wounded from the Pacific, and she is trying to establish herself in musical theatre in New York. What starts stiffly and awkwardly – but amusingly for us – deepens into a genuine connection, and the correspondence extends lengthily because one mishap after another ensures the deferral of their first meeting – he cannot get leave and she is off on provincial tour. It is an attraction of opposites in many ways, but the correspondence unveils a delightful and deepening complementarity as it develops.
This bald summary, however, can do no justice to the quality of the dramatic experience that we enjoy. The credit for this, first and foremost, goes to two young actors who are on song from the start and have a real chemistry with each other. They find an emotional range and finely calibrated response to text and situation that impresses in detail at every point. Some scenes are so exquisitely paced and shaded that you want to stop the action and ask for a repeat performance. Feiler captures Louise’s effervescent charm and screwball enthusiasm to perfection and Nyman’s embodiment of Jack’s shyness, seriousness and latent dry charm are equally convincing. As the tone grows more consistently dark in the second half, they each adjust their enactments and find a depth of emotion with each other that is wholly disarming.
This is only half of the achievement, though. When a play relies entirely on letters a major effort is required from the creative team to add visual appeal, movement and animation – otherwise a static inwardness beckons, as – for example – is regularly delivered in Letters Live. What makes this production so impressive is its fluidity and delicate palette of effects denoting shifting time and place. Director Simon Reade and designer Robert Innes-Hopkins have created a set with two desks that embody the personalities and situations of the two characters – Louise’s is fey and feminine with a backcloth of costumes, accessories and greasepaint, while Jack’s is severe, regulation army issue with a white coat and the Red Cross emblem the only decoration. While never meeting each other’s gaze, in order to suspend disbelief, there is some superbly contrived interaction here as they perform the incidents and experiences they are describing to each other – particular high points are Louise’s visit to meet Jack’s family, her delivery of an audition piece from Arsenic and Old Lace, and Jack’s raw response to wartime military service.
The scenes are punctuated by deftly chosen popular music of the period that is evocative but not intrusive; and the blaring urban blasts of Broadway and the alarums of of wartime emergency drift in and out of the action, as needed, thanks to Jamie Lu’s suggestive sound-world. Richard Williamson’s lighting sequences are equally considered – with film noir close-ups for the more self-consciously theatrical moments, shallow pools of light for the intimate act of solitary writing, and some surprises in store for the climactic moments. It is worth adding that Arcola’s Studio 1 seems a liberated space since the seating was reconfigured in a simplified traverse setting.
I cannot recommend this play too highly. In the difficult disillusioned times we currently inhabit a play such as this offers escape into comedy and romance to be sure, but also an unspoken tonic of necessary human hope. It is only possible when all the elements in the theatrical crucible cohere as well as they do in this outstanding production. That is rare indeed.
Writer: Ken Ludwig
Director: Simon Reade
Cast: Eva Feiler & Preston Nyman
Until 2 May 2026
2 hrs with interval
Photo Credit: Alex Brenner