Brief Encounter

Synopsis

Coward's great tale of illicit love adapted from the 1946 film by David Lean. Set in the winter of 1938-39, it tells of Laura, an ordinary respectable housewife, and Alec, a doctor. Both are middle class and married (happily, they believe) to other people, when, after a chance meeting at Milford Junction Train Station, where Alec gallantly remove a piece of grit from Laura's eye, they embark on a 6-week affair. Your heart will lift at their new-found love and sink again as they struggle against their feelings to deny their destiny together - and the stirring up of countless memories of a true classic in the history of British film.

Our Review:

16 July 2009

It’s a difficult job to translate a film into a piece for the stage. And when the film being adapted is of the best-loved films of all time, the stakes become even higher. It’s a difficult bar to rise to – and Kneehigh’s revival of Emma Rice’s critically acclaimed London production is about as successful and delightful as they can come.

Don’t go expecting to see the film. The stage and the screen are different media, and this production’s strengths lie in the fact that it recognises this. Rather than attempting to place the film’s screenplay on stage, it finds a way of telling the same story, reaching back to Coward’s play Still Life to find a framework. The set and projection design are flawlessly and very cleverly executed, and used to great advantage. There is some wonderful mixed media work, and an excellent use of projection, mixing live and filmed action, which allows for a cheeky nod to the film in sequences where the characters move seamlessly from stage to screen. Th...

Read more of the review

Latest User Review

No reviews yet

Click here to add your review