Brief Encounter is a lot more than just a stage adaptation of David Lean's famous film. Although it does contain several scenes from the film, it is mostly a highly original -- and devilishly clever -- takeoff on it. Combining snippets from Noel Coward's screenplay, bits and pieces of his source material (Still Life), songs, dances, vaudeville shticks and even puppetry, this is a Brief Encounteryou've never encountered before.
As devised and developed by the UK-based theatre company Kneehigh, whose artistic director is Emma Rice, Brief Encounter premiered in 2007 and has toured internationally ever since. No doubt it will continue to find bookings, if only because of its ineffable charm and antic spirit.
The bittersweet love affair between Laura (Hannah Yelland) and Alec (Jim Sturgeon) still occupies center stage, but it is continually interrupted by a raffish bunch of subsidiary characters, all of whom comment on the action, sometimes in satirical fashion, other times in a gravely philosophical way. Onstage, as well, is a four-piece band that continually breaks into song. The Brechtian distancing effect is often buttressed by the interplay of actors with audience.
When video projection, puppetry, sound effects and outrageous music-hall touches (mugging, pantomime, bawdy ballads) are added to the mix...well, the result is non-stop, highly-stylized, hellzapoppin' fun.
