The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry ★★★★

Rachel Joyce works with Katy Rudd (Ballet Shoes) and Peter Darling (Matilda) to adapt her world-famous novel after a sold-out run at the Chichester Theatre Festival last year. Tom Jackson-Greaves (The Book Thief the Musical) choreographs, and Katy Rudd directs. This is a story of quiet courage, community and redemption.

Joyce’s narrative follows Harold and Maureen Fry (Mark Addy and Jenna Russell), a married couple, drifting apart. Harold is the recently retired and heavy-hearted protagonist, who receives a letter from an old friend with cancer, Queenie Hennessy (Maggie Service), that prompts a pilgrimage from his home in Devon to Berwick-upon-Tweed – a 600-mile walk. Along the way he meets protestors and tourists and workers who walk with him and support him online. As everybody follows Harold, he sees this voyage is no longer his; it’s become a place for others to run away. His grief and guilt overtake him until he reaches self-acceptance.

Act One opens with Harold Fry sitting centre stage on a wooden chair, a spotlight on his slouched gait and drab costume. Behind him, an otherworldly balladeer (Noah Mullins) plays a lonely strum on the guitar while his delicate voice fills the Theatre Royal Haymarket. This gentle lyric becomes a folky foot-tapper; the lively ensemble is introduced as they circle around our vacant and immobile everyman.

After an uplifting first song, Mark Addy and Jenna Russell open with comical bickering dialogue in their grey kitchen, while Harold is hooked on a letter from Queenie. He learns she’s in a hospice in Berwick-upon-Tweed. Maureen pesters him about the jam, a moment that she’ll circle back to with guilt after Harold leaves her. In this first scene, you realise Russell’s performance is going to be outstanding. In a world of dancing chaos and sugar-coated faith, Russell’s performance is perfectly and elegantly understated, grounding the entire play with her beautiful ballads and well-executed comedy. Russell’s authenticity is divine in this maximalist musical.

Harold Fry begins his journey to post a letter back to Queenie. The first person he meets is Garage Girl (Nicole Nyarambi), who inspires him to walk all the way to see her. She gets a song of her own, and it’s a pleasure to hear her angelic vocals. She is full of power; everything seems to stop when she sings. Her slow melody turns into an upbeat and kitschy number in a car wash; she could get the whole theatre dancing. This scene is truly exciting because in a story of an old man’s redemption, it’s a young woman in a garage with blue hair that is the catalyst for Harold Fry’s comeuppance.

The first act is full of moments like this. Funny, campy chaos that allows the sincerity of the story to resonate. Daniel Crossley plays a silver-haired gentleman who offers Harold a teacake in Exeter station. He has his own romantic problems and begins a crudely funny song-turned-tap routine in a shoe shop with his younger male lover. Madeleine Worrall plays Martina, a doctor/cleaner from Bratislava who helps Harold after he falls into the road. She plays an immigrant with a doctor’s degree who can’t get a work visa, and although her time on stage is brief, it’s relieving to see some kind of political message in such a high-status West End show; it’s funny too! Passenger must be credited for their witty lyrics and slick songwriting, but by the tenth song with a similar time signature and chord progression, they can feel slightly laborious by the end of the second act. Instead, the talented live musicians, directed by Chris Poon, keep the music interesting and well rounded.

The question here is, how do you stage a story about a long walk? Samuel Wyer’s set is key. He uses circles everywhere to create a communal feel, making quaint pockets of well-realised locations to signpost Harold’s pilgrimage. For example, he comes across a rustic farm with a maypole of laundry; as he walks along an A road, lost and struggling, headlights, signposts and dark projections make for a thrilling watch; as he walks through the countryside, a gorgeous brushstroke backdrop with lighting by Paule Constable creates various visual spectacles. Wyer understands how to stage a pilgrimage; he thinks outside of the box (or circle!), and there is definitely something for everyone. Contrast between light and dark and colour and greyscale offers an interesting metaphor. The dull window, door and furniture that make up the Fry household clash with the Balladeer’s outer world as the set is seamlessly wheeled onstage during the first number. Samuel Wyer’s opposing aesthetics signify the inner battles of Harold and Maureen Fry – after all, a pilgrimage is about making the internal external.

The second act takes a much darker turn and becomes an exploration of Harold’s guilt as the ‘full story’ about his marriage, son, and past relationship to Queenie unfolds. Mark Addy’s performance is exceptional. He creates an undercurrent of humanity that the chaos of this musical begs for. He acts from the heart and is the anchor for everything that unfolds; he is a truly respectable protagonist.

This being said, some writing in Act Two unfortunately comes off as a little cheesy. David Crossley as Napier, young Queenie’s boss at the brewery, plays a caricature of a misogynist, and Queenie’s strength of character is disappointingly underwritten. The Balladeer’s tragic story fails to resonate at points, perhaps due to the repetitive ballads and slightly unnatural dialogue. Muffled, tinny rain sounds play over the highest point of tension (Ian Dickinson/Gareth Tucker for Autograph), and in this case, less is more. In places, it skirts dangerously close to mawkishness. However, the actors do a great job in their delivery, and the leading pair keep you grounded. If you enjoy the nostalgic side of theatre, this show is the one! But tread with caution if you’re not a fan of the tear-jerking sentimental.

All being said, Mark Addy and Jenna Russell redeem this play with their refined and downplayed performance of a couple drawn apart, falling in love again. The leading duo cannot be praised highly enough for their stirring, moving performances. They ensure The Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is down to earth, heartwarming, and ends on a brilliant note.