Full Cast Announced For UK Tour Of 84 CHARING CROSS ROAD Starring Stefanie Powers and Clive Francis

Cambridge Arts Theatre today announce full casting for James Roose-Evans' adaptation of Helene Hanff's novel 84 Charing Cross Road, in collaboration with Lee Dean and Salisbury Playhouse. Joining the previously announced Stefanie Powers (Helene Hanff) and Clive Francis (Frank Doel) are Fiona Bruce (Mrs Todd), Loren O'Dair (Megan/Maxine), William Oxborrow (Mr Martin), Samantha Sutherland (Cecily Farr) and Ben Tolley (Bill Humphries/Alvin). The production opens at Darlington Hippodrome on Wednesday 23 May before touring to Wolverhampton, Malvern, Richmond, Oxford and finishing at Cambridge Arts Theatre on 30 June.

A tender and heart-warming tale of transatlantic friendship, 84 Charing Cross Road is a bittersweet comedy based on the extraordinary true story of the remarkable relationship that developed over 20 years between a vivacious New York writer and a London bookseller. Through their exchange of humorous and often intimate correspondence a snapshot of Britain from the post-war 1940s to the swinging 60s is revealed, alongside a touching human story that still resonates today.

Helene Hanff (1916-1997) was an American novelist and screenwriter whose principal works include 84 Charing Cross Road, Q's Legacy, The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street and Underfoot in Show Business.

James Roose-Evans founded The Hampstead Theatre in London and The Bleddfa Centre for the Creative Spirit. His numerous credits also include a landmark adaptation of Laurie Lee's Cider with Rosie; and directing Sir John Gielgud's last appearance on the London stage. He is the first British theatre director to be ordained a non-stipendiary priest, and has preached in Westminster Abbey, Winchester, Chichester, Gloucester, and Norwich cathedrals.

Fiona Bruce plays Mrs Todd. Recent theatre credits include Scrooge! (Pitlochry Festival Theatre), The Snow Queen (Theatre by the Lake, Keswick), Once (Phoenix Theatre and Seoul , South Korea), Mother Courage and Her Children (Watford Palace Theatre), The Waltz (West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Threepenny Opera (London Bubble Theatre), The Mayor of Casterbridge (Cheltenham Everyman), and Playing for Time (Salisbury Playhouse). For television, her credits include Last of The Summer Wine, The Royal; and for film, Brothers of War.

Loren O'Dair plays Maxine/Megan. Theatre credits include The Grinning Man, Celebrity Night at Café Red (Trafalgar Studios), King Lear (Shakespeare's Globe), Still Waiting (Vault Festival and Battersea Arts Centre), Made in Dagenham (Queens Theatre Hornchurch and New Wolsey Ipswich), The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (US tour), Once (Phoenix Theatre), The Jungle Book (Citizens Theatre, Glasgow) and Sexing The Cherry (Southbank Centre). For television her credits include Rellik.

William Oxborrow plays Mr Martin. Theatre credits include I Happen To Like New York (The Orange Tree Theatre), Saving Jason (Park Theatre), Guys and Dolls (Savoy Theatre and UK tour), As You Like It (Shakespeare's Globe and UK tour) The Tempest (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre), Boyband (Gielgud Theatre), The Deep Blue Sea (Royal Exchange, Manchester) The Picture of Dorian Gray (Gate Theatre, Dublin), The Clandestine Marriage (Queen's Theatre), The Madness of George III (National Theatre), A Clockwork Orange, The Silent Woman, Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet (RSC). For television, his credits include Rosemary and Thyme, Spooks and The Mrs Bradley Mysteries; and for film, Muppets Most Wanted, Sweeney Todd and All the King's Ladies.

Samantha Sutherland plays Cecily Farr. Her theatre credits include The Recruiting Officer (Salisbury Playhouse), Beauty and the Beast (Tobacco Factory), The Paper Dolls (Polka Theatre) and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Les Enfants Terribles). For television, her credits include The Green Green Grass.

Ben Tolley plays Bill Humphries/Alvin. His theatre credits include Dusty (Charing Cross Theatre), As You Like It, Macbeth, The Changeling and Beauty and the Beast (Tobacco Factory), Dickens and The Great Operatic Disaster (Nuffield Southampton Theatres), Dick Whittington (Gatehouse Theatre, Stafford), Dreamboats and Petticoats (UK tour) and Matilda and Duffy's Stupendous Space Adventure and Pinafore Swing (The Watermill Theatre, Newbury). His television credits include The Jury II and The Great Escape - The Untold Journey.

Richard Beecham directs. His theatre credits include Broken Glass (Watford Palace Theatre), Driving Miss Daisy (Theatre Royal Bath and UK tour), Rose (Home, Manchester) Playing for Time (Sheffield Theatres), Dancing at Lughnasa, In Praise of Love, Humble Boy (Royal & Derngate, Northampton), Rutherford & Son (Northern Stage), Red Light Winter, In A Garden, Henry IV Part 1 (Theatre Royal Bath), The Invention of Love, The School for Scandal, The Miser, Side by Side by Sondheim (Salisbury Playhouse), A Taste of Honey, Neville's Island, How The Other Half Loves (Watford Palace Theatre), The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Private Lives, Charley's Aunt, Black Comedy/Real Inspector Hound (Northcott Theatre Exeter) and Entertaining Mr Sloane, Early One Morning (Octagon Theatre Bolton). Beecham also curates large cultural events including the National Commemorative Event for Holocaust Memorial Day (Newcastle Theatre Royal), and The Human Cost (Young Vic London). He is an Associate Artist of HighTide Festival Theatre. For film, his work includes The Guitar.

To post a comment, you must register and login.