With ‘Dearest Nancy, Darling Evelyn’, Jane McCulloch set out to create the sort of small scale, but top class theatre, for just such a venue as Bewdley.

From the reactions of the audience, English Chamber Theatre achieved this objective, This interplay of letters between Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh very clearly showed the insecurities of being even a famous writer, and how their very different characters were of such support to each other.

Fenella Fielding brilliantly displayed the sensitivity and wit of Nancy which was delightfully contrasted by the Evelyn, of Nigel Anthony, who obviously enjoyed being curmudgeonly.

The fact that their very close relationship was only possible at a distance was totally understandable.

Spanning a period of 20 years going from health and success to the infirmities of old age and death, this was a very moving experience lightened by the wonderful, wicked anecdotes about their families and the famous.

Stephen Thorne provided the narration essential to ground the letters in a period of time, and to relate them to the events in the lives of Nancy and Evelyn.

Clearly, this was a short extract from the total correspondence, and we were left wanting more.

I would expect many of the audience to go home, dig out their Penguin versions of these Classics, and recapture the memory of what it was like trying to discover whether you were actually ‘U’ or ‘Non U’.