Review: BRIEF ENCOUNTER (ON AIR), Theatre Royal Windsor

Photo credit: Simon Vail

The Theatre Royal Windsor is making a regular feature of its annual “On Air” radio plays, staged after two rehearsals on its historic stage in front of a paying audience. It is an interesting and entertaining format and makes the audience focus on the spoken words and appreciate the quality of the author’s writing. The latest is Brief Encounter, an adaptation of the story developed from Noel Coward’s 1936 one act play Still Life, that was made famous by David Lean’s wonderful 1945 film and still ranks as one of the greatest British Films of all time. It was also a very successful production, adapted and directed by Emma Rice for Kneehigh Theatre, which ran at the Haymarket Cinema in London in 2008.

Despite its narrative being routed in the mid-1930s to mid-1940s, it still has a universal appeal today with its combination of a strong romantic theme between Alex and Laura and the comical characters around them in the refreshment room of Milford Railway Station. The play and film expand the narrative to explore the development of their relationship in other locations. Although we clearly see that the two married people Alec and Laura have fallen in love, we are not quite sure they consummate their relationship, reflecting perhaps Coward’s view of what was acceptable to a largely middle-class audience. In sharp contrast, it is suggested that the working-class relationship of the railway porter Mr Godby and the refreshment room manageress, Mrs Bagot, is a more physical passion than the romance of those enjoying a brief encounter each Thursday.

Jenny Seagrove is a delight as Laura with a clipped received pronunciation narrating her experiences and feelings, and the tension she feels between her love for Alec and her duty and loyalty to her husband, Fred. She sums up her dilemma when she says they are “a happily married couple, this is my home with the children upstairs – my whole world” until she meets Alec.

Despite the fact that each of the actors plays their role at a standing microphone, staring straight ahead into the auditorium, we can see how she feels as she describes her meetings and emotions . Simon Shepherd is the Doctor, Alec, who comes to her rescue when she gets grit in her eye and whose expressions of love tempt her to betray her husband and lie about her meetings despite her sense of morality and duty.

The appeal of the play is enhanced by the characters who surround them at Milford Station; Myrtle Bagot (Lin Blakeley), Albert Godby (Roy Marsden, who also directs), Beryl (Gina Timberlake), and those they meet in other locations such as the annoyed Stephen (Gary Webster) in his flat or the irritating Dolly in the hotel (Blakeley). There is a wonderful comic irony in the formal dress wear and the comical regional accents they all adopt. Webster also plays the unemotional Fred more interested in his crossword than his wife’s afternoon liaisons.

The production is completed by the entertaining Martin Carroll as the Foley Artist and some minor characters (a soldier and a policeman) . From his first appearance opening up the radio studio, he revels in his sound effects demonstrating the thunder sheet and foot walking effects that would otherwise not feature! Each effect is deployed with stylised showmanship focusing us on the slightest addition to the soundscape. We hear doors open, keys rattle, newspaper rustle, drinks poured, whistles sounded, wind blowing, a handkerchief opened, telephones dialled, and best of all a rowing boat splash! It is all further enhanced by a wonderful romantic underscore and occasional train effects recreating the sound of the original movie.

The whole ensemble makes for a charming and entertaining show full of character and romance and despite the class divides which anchor this to the period, its core dilemma of the horror at the thought of betraying a partner, despite being profoundly tempted by one’s emotions, still resonates today. How many in the audience have fantasised about a romantic brief encounter with an attractive person but resisted that thought? Judging by the reaction of first night audience, quite a lot!

Next up in the “On Air” series is the return of A Christmas Carol in November, which will certainly get you into the Christmas Spirit, present and future, before the pantomime season starts a week later.

**** Four stars

Reviewed by: Nick Wayne

Brief Encounter (On Air) plays at Theatre Royal Windsor until 21 September, with further info here.