Brief Encounter extends booking period
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
KNEEHIGH Theatre’s aclaimed adaptation of David Lean’s classic film Brief Encounter has extended its booking period at The Cinema Haymarket by three months – until September 21, 2008.
Previously Posted: Kneehigh Theatre is bringing its acclaimed adaptation of David Lean’s classic film Brief Encounter to the West End – not in a traditional theatre but in the Cineworld on Haymarket which, for the production’s duration (from February 2 to June 22, 2008) will be known as The Cinema Haymarket.
Based on Noël Coward’s one-act play Still Life, Brief Encounter is the story of a middle-class couple, Alec and Laura, who meet by chance in a railway station buffet and are instantly drawn to each another.
The 1945 Oscar-winning film starred Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard; while Jenny Seagrove and Christopher Cazenove took on the roles of Laura and Alec in a West End stage adaptation in the year 2000.
In the new production, which sees the lives and loves of three couples played out in the station tearoom, Emma Rice directs a cast that includes Tristan Sturrock as Alec, Naomi Frederick as Laura, Tamzin Griffin (Myrtle), Amanda Lawrence (Beryl), Stuart McLoughlin (Stanley) and Andy Williams (Fred/Albert); plus musicians Adam Pleeth and Ian Ross.
Kneehigh’s other productions include A Matter of Life and Death (National Theatre), Cymbeline, Tristan and Yseult and Red Shoes.
The Cinema Haymarket opened as The Carlton Theatre in 1927 and was suitable for both live theatre and film screenings. Eventually, in 1979, it was converted into a three-screen cinema.