Let's play: "BRIEF ENCOUNTER"

(Of the first kind with London theatre)

I decided to write short reviews on all the plays I'm seeing in my London contemporary theatre class. So yeah, super fun times for all. Well, unless you don't care about theater. Then I'd just skip this.

I'm rating Week 1's play, "Brief Encounter" on a scale of 1-5 Dame Helen Mirren's.*

Four Mirren's out of five. Noel Coward’s “Brief Encounter”
Adapted for the stage by Emma Rice
Now playing at The Haymarket Ticket prices: £39.50 and £35.00
Run time: TBA


A scene from the film. Not the play.

"Brief Encounter" review
By Matt Levin

It was just a coincidence. Simply put, a brief encounter. If not for the opening scene that showed everything now happening on stage is a flashback — it would appear meaningless.

Instead, the by chance meeting between two strangers at a train station — Alec (Tristian Sturrock) and Laura (Naomi Frederick —explodes into a surreal and passionate affair. There’s no heroes or villains here in “Brief Encounter.” No judgment is passed on anybody in the Kneehigh Theater adaptation of Noel Coward’s classic film of the same name. Neither the adulterers or their dull spouses are presented as good or bad people.

Instead the Haymarket Theater presents, in a screenplay by Emma Rice (also the director), a character study on what happens when two people fall in love, but know their future is an impossible dream. The play, which moves between film scenes and what’s happening on stage, takes liberties with the original movie. And while not all work, many of the artistic choices add to the whimsical nature of Laura and Alec's relationship.

Puppets play the part of children, hysterical fake commercials parody life in the 1940s and the actors even hand out food to the audience. The play also places emphasis on two other couples—one older and one younger—who’s passion seem to be what Alec and Laura long for but no they will never achieve.

Fantastic musical interludes help establish mood. The acting in the play won’t blow you away. Laura in particular never seems to show any emotion outside worrying. But prepare to be floored by the versatility of the leads and the rest of the ensemble. Each one can sing and play an instrument—and they all do.

At times it gets too silly, especially in regards to the ultra-serious source material. And it actually felt a little too melodramatic and overwrought near the end. So the balance between serious and silly isn't perfect. But it's fun, it's wacky, it's intense, it's solemn. It's just a brief encounter. But it's also life.

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*In case you're unsure. Five Helen Mirren's is most definitely the best possible thing.