Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre announces BRIEF ENCOUNTER as first production for 2022

Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre have announced their first in-house production for 2022 will be Brief Encounter, a co-production with Octagon Theatre, Bolton, and Theatre by the Lake, Keswick.

Emma Rice’s adaptation of Noël Coward’s classic movie can be seen at the North Yorkshire theatre from 22 July-27 August.

Laura and Alec are married – but not to each other. A chance meeting at a railway station hurls them headlong into a whirlwind romance that threatens to blow both their worlds apart. Will they give in to love’s first rush and risk everything? Has this relationship changed the course of their lives forever?

This playful production turns Noël Coward’s film inside out, adding joyous musical numbers and physical comedy, while retaining the classic romance of the original.

The show will be directed by the SJT’s Artistic Director, Paul Robinson, who said: “Emma Rice has done an outstanding job of turning Coward’s film into a story for today. It’s funny and colourful, brimming with warmth and wit, and whilst still paying heed to the steely moral core of the 1945 screenplay, it asks a question which is just as relevant today: do we risk everything for love?”

Following its run in Scarborough, the show will transfer to the Theatre by the Lake in Keswick in September and then to the Octagon Theatre, Bolton, in October.

Tickets for the SJT go on general sale on 24 January here.