Brief Encounter - Watermill 2021

Thanks moelhywel - fond memories of seeing this in London and am taking my family to see it in Birmingham in a couple of weeks, so glad to know it's still up to scratch.

Cheers. persuaded my lovely wife that she needed to see this.

Just booked to see the last night in Birmingham.
Really looking forward to it but especially if the soundtrack is the same as the movie? Can anyone shed any light as to whether they use Rachmaninov score?

Just didn't think this worked. This central romance is faithful to the film and well played but the slapstick supporting stuff is from a different show, and I never thought the two successfully cohered.

I'm not convinced this was a good choice of film to stage in the first place, it's a small, intimate film, many of the best bits are subtle expressions from the actors in close-up.

A couple of nice stage effects but to little end.

Finally caught this tonight (last night in Birmingham). Well, actually I did part see it on Tuesday before the performance was stopped, but as that was quite an unpleasant and scary situation, I'll put that to one side for now.

It's a very talented cast, almost all actor/musician types. They also perform a pre-show concert as people arrive, and interact with the audience inside before the show starts.

The front of the stage is taken out, with some additional seating used for the production put there. That means the front row has loads of legroom, unlike the typical front of the Rep. A possible downside is it's one of the main audience interaction areas.

The majority of actors play multiple parts (which confused one gentlemen sat near me who kept having to ask questions to his partner - the same person who also needed to disrupt the row to go out and buy beer part way through). Jos Slovick stood out to me, with his great singing. Beverley Rudd had excellent comedy timing and really reminded me of her character on Trollied.

This is based on one of the greatest films ever made and was really presented as if the audience know all the set scenes from the film, so they can have some fun with it. The farcical parts were a let down to me, splashing water around to pretend to be in a boat, using an electric guitar etc. The sentimental moments worked better and I liked the use of puppets in place of children. I also noticed that Peter Dukes had difficulty keeping his English accent going.

There was pretty much continual background music, which was distracting, although the main score has rather a haunting feel to it. This was rather a "play with songs", so they seemed more prominent than in the film.

The filmed sequences fit in well, but they weren't all with the same cast performing, which always looks odd.

Overall, enjoyable, but I'd love to see a production closer to the original film (or even the play the film was adapted from).

I liked this a lot a couple of weeks ago in Birmingham. I haven't seen the film, but thought it was cleverly done, very funny and romantic. I thought the way it acknowleged the iconic film and other cinema effects was well done - I personally think The Wizard of Oz should be tackled this way as that always feels like you're just watching the film on stage (Maybe that could be a direction for Liam Steel to take this Christmas at The REP?).

On another note, I noticed a great new trailer and interview with Emma Rice has been made for this. However I noticed the new artwork at the end (and by the look of it on social media on the programmes for tonight at the Lowry) describes this as "A musical adapted and directed by EMMA RICE". I personally would just describe it as a "play with songs" and (correct me if I'm wrong) I'm sure others would agree with me?

I think that, with recent shows like Once and The Girl From the North Country, there’s a greater acknowledgement of shows with songs as commentary coming under the umbrella term of musicals. As far as the general public goes, I imagine that anything with a large number of songs in it will be thought of as a musical, no matter how they arise from the narrative.

I remember fondly the last time I had my briefs encountered at the Empire Cinema so it'll be a nostalgic delight to go back again.

£10 seats seem to be the rows M to R only

Well. I thought it was just delightful. And so very funny too. The supporting cast are fabulous, Lucy Thackeray's voice is a thing of wonder and her chemistry with Dean Nolan is fabulous. Even better though are Beverly Rudd and Jos Slovick as Beryl and Stanley. They are HI-larious and Jos Slovick in particular has such a lovely voice when he's plucking on his ukulele. There are so many moments which are incredibly inventive and beautifully realised and I think that all of the slapstick going on around Alec and Laura makes their tale even sadder. Oh and there's a bit with a curtain and a train that I almost gave a standing ovation to it was so glorious.

Don't turn up two minutes before the show is due to start though as you'll miss the cast all dressed as cinema ushers and giving us a few songs which is smashing.

Go see it. Go see it. Go see it.

Great news, @ryan and westendcub; could you say roughly where you sat, please? Following on from the discussion about the £10 deal applying only to the rear stalls.