Review: BRIEF ENCOUNTER, Octagon Theatre Bolton

Photo credit: Tony Bartolomew

Based on Noël Coward’s 1945 film, Brief Encounter now makes its way to the stage in the form of a musical, adapted by Emma Rice.  The original film itself was based on one of Coward’s own short plays, so this story is making somewhat of a comeback to the theatre.

After a brief chance meeting, the two very married Laura Jesson and Alec Harvey meet up every Thursday at the railway café in which they first met.  Despite only seeing each other for a few hours once a week, the housewife and the doctor fall in love, forming a romantic relationship that is impossible for both of them.

The cast, led by Anne-Marie Piazza as Laura and Pete Ashmore as Alec, are excellent throughout the whole show and the supporting cast members take on multi-roling to create the world around Laura and Alec.  Not only do the cast play multiple characters in the story, but almost all of them play instruments to add to the band performing the songs of the show.  The band itself consists of musical director and pianist Alex Weatherhill and double bassist Maximillian Lamprecht who underscore the show nicely.

For a musical, Brief Encounter doesn’t have many songs but the ones that are in the show sadly aren’t the most memorable and feel as though they aren’t really necessary to the story and as such, are just there for the sake of having songs.  The most memorable song is a tango number but despite being a strong piece, it feels out of place with the rest of the show.

There are also small moments in the show when physical theatre is used, including a lift but again, this feels out of place as the device is used so little in the show, which makes it look a little odd and inconsistent in terms of the style of the performance.

As the Octagon is used in its usual “in the round” style performance space, both direction from Paul Robinson and set design from Jessica Curtis work well together to ensure audience members on every side of the stage get a good clear view of the actor’s performances onstage.

Adapted into a stage musical from Noël Coward’s film, Brief Encounter is a nice romantic story mixed in with some light-hearted comedy.  Simply wonderful performances by the actors and musicians, however the show itself could benefit from more consistency on the creative side of things, and potentially a reconsideration of the musical element of the show.

*** Three stars

Reviewed by: Jess Dalloway

Brief Encounter plays at the Octagon Theatre until 5 November, with tickets available here.