Susan Granger’s review of “Brief Encounter” (Roundabout Theater/Studio 54)
Romance reigns as David Lean’s 1945 movie and its source – Noel Coward’s short play “Still Life” – comes to life on-stage at Studio 54.
Set in pre-World War II Britain in 1938, it’s the heart-tugging, ill-fated love story of Alec (Tristan Surrock) and Laura (Hannah Yelland), two respectable, middle-class people who meet in the tea room at a train station. Married to other people – repressed and trapped in frustrating, mundane lives of their own making – they realize their fleeting attraction to one another is as unacceptable as it is unavoidable. But they’re not alone. There’s also the shamelessly bawdy affair between the stationmaster Albert (Joseph Alessi) and Myrtle (Annette McLaughlin), who manages the eatery, and a youthful flirtation between young, ukulele-playing Stanley (Gabriel Ebert) and the scooter-riding waitress Beryl (Dorothy Atkinson).
Adapted and directed by Emma Rice, the artistic director of London’s Kneehigh Theater, it combines not only the movie and play but also projections, puppetry and several Noel Coward songs, performed live with an on-stage band, in addition to Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, which resonates throughout. Rice also breaks the theatrical fourth wall by having the musicians and, occasionally, the actors, popping in and out of the audience. The entire concept is utterly enchanting, particularly the finale in which the participants mingle with the audience as they are leaving the theater.
Kudos to all those who participated in this inventive production: Neil Murray’s set and costume design, Malcolm Randolph’s lighting, Simon Baker’s sound, Jon Discoll and Gemma Carrington’s projections.