Kneehigh's Cinematic Brief Encounter Will Play the Guthrie Theater

By Adam Hetrick
17 Dec 2009

Emma Rice's romantic film noir adaptation of Noël Coward's Brief Encounter, which is currently playing an extended New York run at St. Ann's Warehouse, will conclude its limited U.S. tour at the Guthrie Theater.

The Guthrie will welcome the Kneehigh Theater production Feb. 11–April 3, 2010, as the final stop on its U.S. tour. After an acclaimed London run, Brief Encounter made its U.S. debut in an extended engagement at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre earlier this fall. The St. Ann's engagement opened Dec. 6 and was recently extended through Jan. 17, 2010.

Adapted and directed by Kneehigh artistic director Rice, Brief Encounter draws from Coward's original one-act Still Life, which is brought to life through the use of film elements from David Lean's 1945 black-and-white screen adaptation, which was called "Brief Encounter." Rice has also sprinkled the affair, which she calls "a grownup fairy tale," with songs by Coward and new melodies by Stu Walker, which utilize Coward's poems and other writings.

According to press notes: "Switching seamlessly between live theatre and remade film footage, Brief Encounter takes audiences back to a bygone age of romance and the silver screen. The story follows the brief affair between Laura (a housewife and mother) and Alec (a married doctor), who meet at a railway station café when Alec removes a piece of grit from Laura's eye… The lives and loves of the three couples are played out in the train station tearoom as a grand entertainment, using the words (some newly set to original music) and familiar songs of Noël Coward to create a breathtaking, funny and tear-inducing show with live musicians on stage, characters jumping in and out of film screens, and a couple in love floating in mid-air."

The production features Joseph Alessi (Albert/Fred), Hannah Yelland (Laura), Eddie Jay (Ensemble), Annette McLaughlin (Myrtle), Stu McLoughlin (Stanley), Adam Pleeth (Ensemble), Dorothy Atkinson (Beryl), Tristan Sturrock (Alec), Daniel Canham (Bill/Ensemble). Jay and Pleeth also serve as musicians for the production, playing songs by Coward and Stu Barker.

The creative team for the show includes scenic and costume designer Neil Murray, lighting designer Malcolm Rippeth, projection and film designers Jon Driscoll and Gemma Carrington and sound designer Simon Baker.

Brief Encounter was originally produced by David Pugh & Dafydd Rogers and Cineworld. The production was nominated for four Laurence Olivier Awards, including Best Entertainment and Best Director.

For tickets, phone (612) 377-2224 or visit GuthrieTheater. The Guthrie is located at 818 South 2nd Street (at Chicago Avenue) in downtown Minneapolis.