BRIEF ENCOUNTER till 10 November

BRIEF ENCOUNTER: Noel Coward, Adapted by Emma Rice from the play and film.
Runs 2h 10m, one interval.
Birmingham Rep till 20 October (0212 236 4455)
West Yorkshire Playhouse, 24 October to 10 November.
Details www.kneehigh.co.uk.

Review Rod Dungate, Birmingham Rep, 3 October 2007.

True Romance for all.

Completely unscientifically I’d say that half the audience, last night, knew of Kneehigh’s jokey, irreverent style and half had come to see a staged version of a film they knew every line of dialogue of. Both groups left the Rep warmly smiling.

BRIEF ENCOUNTER is the story of a respectable married woman (no, lady) from ‘Middle England’ who bumps into a respectable married GP at a railway station. They fall intensely in love; but their unconsummated affair has to be broken off. She returns to her dull, stable husband and mundane life, he leaves England for South Africa. This is a love story, this is romance; this is an unhappy ending.

Emma Rice and her team go for the universal, the timeless in this tale. They go for the love, have fun around it but never at its expense.

Central to the success of this approach are the quite stunning performances of Naomi Frederick and Tristan Sturrock – Laura, the middle England wife, and Alec, the GP. These two actors surmount all the difficulties of 40s received pronunciation and courtship rules with apparent ease; they raise the stakes of their scenes to Everestian heights. I cared so much about them I had to be physically restrained from leaping into the acting space to sweep them away to a secluded farmhouse I know where they’d be safe.

The love story is excitingly framed by skilled comedy performances, terrific technical effects and lively music.

The acting company is uniformly strong so I’ll not single out any one of them. I lie . . . Amanda Lawrence as Beryl, the gauche assistant in the station refreshment rooms, with cameo roles, is doubly fabulous.

Laura: Naomi Frederick.
Myrtle: Tamzin Griffin.
Musician: Pete Judge.
Beryl: Amanda Lawrence.
Stanley: Stuart MacLoughlin.
Alec: Tristan Sturrock.
Musician: Alex Vann.
Fred/ Albert: Andy Williams.

Director: Emma Rice.
Designer: Neil Murray.
Lighting Designer: Malcolm Rippeth.
Composer: Stu Barker.
Projection Designers: Gemma Carrington, Jon Driscoll.
Sound Designer: Simon Baker.
Assistant Director: Rachel Russell.
Underwater Filming: Robin Kewell.
Puppets mad by: Lyndie Wright.
Puppetry Consultant: Sarah Wright.
Associate Artist: Mike Shepherd.

2007-10-04 09:20:29