Brief Encounter – Royal Exchange Theatre

Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No 2 is undoubtedly one of the most famous pieces of music in cinematic history, the dark strains being synonymous with the 1945 David Lean directed ‘Brief Encounter’, its tone of repression and guilt defining a certain very English attitude to love and sex in the immediate post war period. The film was based on Noel Coward’s pre war one-act play ‘Still Life’, and this festive season the Royal Exchange Theatre has turned this melancholy tale of squandered opportunity into a quirky and witty musical using songs exclusively from Coward’s extensive back catalogue. The resulting Christmas confection is a soft fondant of nostalgic memory wrapped round a bittersweet centre.

The central love story is the paper thin tale of Laura (Hannah Azuonye), an upper middle class housewife and mother living a life of quiet, unfulfilled boredom in Home Counties England between the wars. She meets Alec (Baker Mukasa), a local GP and they embark on a relationship that blooms from coy friendship to illicit love and finally poignant parting, a nascent love strangled by social convention and the familial duty Laura eventually conforms to. The film famously uses an inner monologue through which Laura plays out her conflict and struggle, this production replaces that angst ridden Freudian can of worms with Noel Coward penned songs, the tart lyrics and swooping melodies illustrating the thoughts and feelings of the characters with a deft touch. This idea was originally conceived by Emma Rice and Kneehigh Productions mounted a version which garnered critical and audience approval. However, the unique performance space of the Royal Exchange does not allow for the extensive use of projection and effects used in that production, allowing Director Sarah Frankcom to utilise her extensive experience of directing in this challenging arena to produce something quite different and equally arresting.

The Set Design of Rose Revitt is a pitch perfect representation of the era, metal balustrades and parquet wood flooring invoke the famous station tea room setting, a set flooded with external light and sound (Simeon Miller/Russell Ditchfield) coming up the aisles and creating the vivid impression steam trains are passing immediately outside the auditorium. Onstage throughout are the four piece band led by Musical Director Matthew Malone on Piano, effortlessly moving between sombre classical and jazzy uptempo beats in an instant and occasionally breaking the fourth wall to audience hilarity.

The small cast play out numerous roles around the steady orbit of Alec and Laura’s burgeoning romance, Frankcom expands considerably on the original film to delve into the backstory of some supporting characters illustrating the class divisions and social mores of inter war Britain to beautiful effect. Matthew Allen demonstrates immense versatility, moving from small child to a tap dancing, saxophonist crooner (I’ll Follow My Secret Heart) whilst Stanley (Georgia Frost) is the cheeky young station worker setting his cap towards Beryl (Ida Regan), the initially innocent waitress who’s womanhood blossoms as the show progresses. The opening number (Any Little Fish) from Frost intersperses the scene haltingly before fully fledging as the character’s confidence grows, whilst Regan shows the fire and passion beneath her waitress smock during a blistering rendition of Mad About The Boy. Albert (Richard Glaves) and Myrtle (Christine Modestou) are both older and wiser, Myrtle keeping a tight lid of her romantic notions before bursting forth to show her true nature during ‘No Good at Love’. The debt owed by Frankcom to Victoria Wood for the comedic interpretation during these scenes is obvious and warmly embraced by all the actors, Wood paid her own hilarious homage to ‘Brief Encounter’ (check out on YouTube kids!) and the tone of these scenes replicates that style to a tee (pun intended).

Azuonye and Mukasa are more smouldering and understated, articulating the moments between words with gestures, their songs illustrating the poignant arc of the story with accuracy; Mukasa hopeful and stirring (A Room With a View) whilst Azuonye is more wistful (If Love Were All). The Alec/Laura story dominated after the interval and the pace dropped accordingly to accommodate the tone of their narrative, their slight lack of chemistry jarring with the previous grounded robustness. Their final farewell was heartbreaking; the quiet and desperate end, both unable to express themselves as a busybody neighbour intervenes, Alec walks away and leaves Laura contemplating her loveless future with decent, but deeply boring, Fred. The storyline shocked audiences when the film was first released, duty being seen as more important than marital fulfilment, however attitudes in the intervening eighty years have changed markedly and though we wish for a happy ending for the lovers the original story is better left unadulterated. Frankcom makes a rare error in tone by tacking on an unnecessary sing along conclusion, presumably to prevent a depressing conclusion to a production mounted over the festive season.

During 2023, the Royal Exchange Theatre shrugged off the existential crisis of the last few years and started to again produce the theatrical mix which has made its reputation for nearly fifty years. We have enjoyed wonderful adaptations of Shakespeare, Dickens and Tennessee Williams this year, mixed with newer writing challenging our notions and preconceptions of what theatre should be post millennium. This production of ‘Brief Encounter’ is a funny, clever and moving addition to that canon and will undoubtedly spark a warm glow of nostalgia amongst festive Mancunian audiences.

Playing until 13th January 2024, https://www.royalexchange.co.uk/whats-on/

Reviewer: Paul Wilcox

Reviewed: 7th December 2023

North West End UK Rating: