The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry at Theatre Royal Haymarket

From Cheryl Strayed’s Wild to Raynor Winn’s (controversial) The Salt Path, there are plenty of stories that explore the transformative power of a long, old walk. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, adapted by Rachel Joyce from her own novel, brings this theme to the stage. Director Katy Rudd’s musical packs in the emotional punches, but is ultimately mawkish and oversentimental.

The seemingly ordinary Harold Fry has his quiet life in Devon upended when he receives an upsetting letter from an old friend. Queenie Hennessey, a former colleague, is in a hospice dying of cancer. Harold writes a letter of farewell but can’t seem to bring himself to drop it in at the nearest postbox; something compels him to keep on walking. What starts as a morning stroll becomes an epic odyssey to reach Queenie 500 miles away in Berwick-upon-Tweed. As he walks, Harold finds himself in the company of all manner of strangers, who help him come to terms with a long-held grief.

The play is well-staged under Katy Rudd’s direction; including an ever-present chorus of anonymous faces is a clever way to emphasise the story’s fable-like qualities. The music is also appealing, with pop star Passenger offering a folk-heavy score with a few standout numbers like Walk Upon the Water and From the Rooftops.

But it must be said that The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry leans very heavily on sentiment and schmaltz – to a degree that some audiences may find hard to stomach. Every tragedy under the kitchen sink appears in this show – from cancer and grief to addiction and mental ill-health – and the nuance of such heavy topics is often lost in favour of oversimplified aphorisms. Neat but nearly meaningless lines like “Getting lost is the key to being found” and “Sometimes you have to walk to find your feet” mean the actual moral core of the story is left unclear.

Mark Addy offers a charismatic performance as Harold, bringing both comedy and pathos to the role. But it’s impossible not to notice his discomfort with the musical aspects of the performance – he is outdanced by the ensemble and rarely sings alone. In the format of musical theatre, it stands out like a sore thumb that when it comes to the music, our lead never actually leads.

There are certainly moments of poignancy in The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, and technically speaking, this is a decent theatrical adaptation of the source material. Undoubtedly, some audiences will connect to the themes presented and be moved by Harold’s plight. But this show lacks the nuance and subtlety that would elevate it to something more meaningful.