Brief Encounter

Brief Encounter

Brief Encounter

Noël Coward’s Brief Encounter
Adapted for the stage by Emma Rice

Adapted from the play Still Life and the screenplay Brief Encounter, both by Noël Coward

Brief Encounter

Brief Encounter

Noël Coward’s Brief Encounter
Adapted for the stage by Emma Rice

Adapted from the play Still Life and the screenplay Brief Encounter, both by Noël Coward

Overview

Your heart dances. The world seems strange and new. You want to laugh and skip and fall forever… You are in love. You are in love with the wrong person. Laura, the respectable suburban wife, and Alec, the idealistic, married doctor, meet in a station buffet and fall passionately in love, but are doomed never to find fulfilment.

David Lean’s iconic 1945 movie, Brief Encounter, was written by Noël Coward and was based on one of his one-act plays, Still Life, written a decade earlier. Emma Rice, Artistic Director of Kneehigh Theatre Company, has adapted this timeless tale of joy and heartache for the stage, interspersing the romantic action with nine Coward ditties.

Read more about why we love Brief Encounter on the Samuel French UK blog

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Details

  • Genre: Adaptation (Stage & Screen)
  • Time Period: 1930s
  • Cast Attributes: Reduced Casting (Doubling Possible)

Authors

Noël Coward

Noël Peirce Coward was born in 1899 and made his professional stage debut as Prince Mussel in The Goldfish at the age of 12, leading to many child actor appearances over the next few years. His breakthrough in playwriting was the controversial The Vortex (1924), which feature ...

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Author

Emma Rice