THE late 19th-century American poet Emily Dickinson is probably not very familiar to British readers.

Helen Wuscher’s portrayal of Emily at The Wharf on Friday and Saturday will have inspired a whole new audience for her work, because they will have been enchanted by the character on stage.

The play-goers are invited into the reclusive Emily’s parlour, and her life – where Emily hospitably offers the guests her special black cake together with the recipe.

Ms Wuscher shows us a woman who, although she withdrew from society at an early age to devote herself to her writing, was not a hermit. Hers is a warm, funny and occasionally mischievous portrait. She encouraged the neighbours to see her as an enigmatic eccentric and laughed at the image she created.

It is a challenge to inject movement and action into what is basically a monologue. But Ms Wuscher does it, not only by engaging her audience in a one-sided conversation but also by darting between her piles of books, her writing desk and small trunk full of her poems on an economically but effectively furnished set.

We share her elation and anticipation when a publisher comes to call, and feel her pain and disappointment when he rejects her work. The anguish of unrequited love was palpable although subtly understated as befitted a woman of her status in those days.

Ms Wuscher draws us into her intimate family, sister, brother, austere father and frail mother.

And of course the story is punctuated by Emily Dickinson’s poetry, like its author, surprising, amusing, erudite and lyrical.

Directed by Lewis Cowen, who is co-founder of The Northgate Theatre Company with Helen Wuscher, The Belle of Amherst will be repeated at The Mission Theatre in Bath early next year.

Jo Bayne