James Roose-Evans (11 November 1927 – 26 October 2022) was a British theatre director, priest, and writer on experimental theatre, ritual and meditation. In 1959 he founded the Hampstead Theatre Club, in London; in 1974 the Bleddfa Centre for the Creative Spirit, in mid-Wales; and in 2015 Frontier Theatre Productions. He was best known for directing the West End play 84 Charing Cross Road.
Early life and education
James Roose-Evans was born in London on 11 November 1927, the second son of Jack and Primrose. His older brother Monty later emigrated to America. Roose-Evans attended the Crypt Grammar School, Gloucester, before spending eighteen months in the Royal Army Educational Corps, ending his service in Trieste in 1947.
In 1949, he was admitted to St Benet's Hall, Oxford where he read English. In the vacations, and after graduating from university, he worked as an actor in repertory theatres. In 1954, at Bridgwater, Somerset, where he was leading man, he was encouraged to direct by Kenneth Williams.
Career as a theatre director
In 1954, Roose-Evans was appointed Artistic Director of the Maddermarket Theatre in Norwich. Here, in the 1954–55 season he directed nine plays including Shakespeare's Macbeth (in which he also played the lead), and Garcia Lorca's Dona Rosita, for which he visited Granada and met the eponymous heroine.
Having met Martha Graham and seen her dance company on its first visit to England, Roose-Evans determined to go to America to learn more about modern dance. He was appointed to the Faculty of the Juilliard School of Music in New York City where he was given a studio, a group of dancers, musicians and a composer, and invited to experiment with integrating music, dance and drama, which he did from 1955–56.
RADA
On his return to the UK, Roose-Evans joined the staff of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, directing many productions in the Vanbrugh Theatre, from his own adaptation of Milton's Paradise Lost, to Henri de Montherlant's Port Royal. His production of Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood was revived term after term, with different casts, eventually transferring to the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, with Philip Madoc in the lead role.
Among the RADA students Roose-Evans taught were Mike Leigh, Sarah Miles, John Hurt, Geoffrey Whitehead, and Michael Williams. He also taught at the Central School of Speech and Drama, where he influenced students including Vanessa Redgrave and Judi Dench.
Hampstead Theatre
In 1959 Roose-Evans founded the Hampstead Theatre Club, at Moreland Hall, in Holly Bush Vale, London. The first season opened with Siwan, a play by the Welsh poet Saunders Lewis, translated by Emyr Humphreys, and with Siân Phillips as the Princess Siwan. A double-bill by Harold Pinter, The Dumb Waiter and The Room, received rave reviews from Harold Hobson in The Sunday Times, and put the fledgling theatre on the cultural map.
Roose-Evans remained at the Hampstead Theatre until 1971, during which time his production of Noël Coward's Private Lives transferred to the West End, followed by his adaptation and production of Laurie Lee's Cider with Rosie – at one point Hampstead had two productions running simultaneously in the West End. In that time he also founded the short-lived Stage Two, an adjunct to the Hampstead Theatre conceived as a laboratory for experimental theatre.
Career from 1971
In the following years, Roose-Evans directed a number of commercial productions (including Private Lives with Joanna Lumley and Simon Cadell), an experimental production of Oedipus for the Contemporary Greek Theatre in Athens; as well as his 1973 production of the Chester Mystery Plays which he rehearsed over a period of nine months.
84 Charing Cross Road
In the summer of 1980, Roose-Evans went to teach a practical course in Experimental Theatre in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His assistant there, Susan Kruger, gave him a copy of Helene Hanff's 84, Charing Cross Road, which he then adapted for the stage. He directed the world premiere at the Salisbury Playhouse in the summer of 1981. It transferred to the West End, winning awards for Rosemary Leach as Best Actress and for Roose-Evans as Best Director. In 1982 he directed an American cast in the play on Broadway, with Ellen Burstyn and Joe Maher in the leading roles, where it won further awards for Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Director and Best Play. James subsequently directed tours of 84, the first with Miriam Karlin as Helene, and then Rula Lenska. In February 2015 his new production of 84 Charing Cross Road opened at Salisbury with Janie Dee as Helene and Clive Francis as Frank Doel.