Brief Encounter is an imaginative new work that combines elements of Noël Coward’s beloved screenplay, and the one act play on which it was based, with song, dance and Technicolor displays of emotion.
This breakout hit from London’s Kneehigh Theatre played a sold out run at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn,
NY and has also played critically acclaimed engagements at ACT and the Guthrie Theater.
'Still Life' is a fine play. 'Brief Encounter' is a classic film. Personally, I don't need to see the two texts conflated into some 90-minute seriocomic extravaganza that undermines and mocks the subtle essence of Coward's work while presumably paying homage to it.
Pity the actors caught in this bastardization, especially Yelland and Sturrock, fighting memories of Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard, unsurpassable in the movie version. Also Alessi, saddled with conspicuously doubling Albert and Fred, Laura’s husband.
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