Musical instrument returned with apology - Double bass stolen from outside New End Theatre, returned to owner Christopher Hunter

Published: 28 April 2011
by TOM FOOT

THE phantom double bass snatcher of Hampstead has returned a stolen instrument to its owner with a written apology, writes Tom Foot.

The giant wooden instrument was taken from outside the New End Theatre while Royal Shakespeare Company actor Christopher Hunter unloaded his van. 

It was due to star as a key prop in his one-man play The Double Bass at the Hampstead playhouse.

The day after the New Journal reported the mystery, it was returned with an anonymous, typewritten note.

The note said: “Dear Christopher Hunter, I found your double bass by the rubbish bin and other bits of trash. I thought that someone had thrown it away until, to my surprise, I read the New Journal today.”

Mr Hunter, who once lived in Willoughby Road, was forced to rent a £4,000 replacement bass after his went missing around 11am on March 7.

Following a frantic, exhaustive search across London to find a substitute prop, he finally secured one from a music shop owner Stoke Newington.

The play is about a    musician preparing for a gala performance of Das Rheingold, while suffering a middle-aged crisis of confidence,

The note, which apologised for “any inconvenience caused”, was tucked in the   bass holder.

Mr Hunter said: “It sounds as if this guy thought it was rubbish, which may reflect somewhat on my bass. To be honest, the whole thing turned out to be a plus. 

“I got one that was 10 times better in the end.”

Reflecting on the thick strings on his returned bass, which he bid £500 for on eBay, he added: “It’s rather like getting out of a BMW, and into a beat-up old Morris Minor.”

Producer Hilary Townley said: “Talk about truth being stranger than fiction. Only in Hampstead would someone spot a double bass and think ‘I’ll have that!’”

Mr Hunter’s production closed this week following rave reviews. 

The Times reviewer reflected on the how the “lowly double-bass” came across as “a symbol of the humble worker trapped in a rigid hierarchy”.