Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre announces first production for 2022

Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre

Brief Encounter is 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 Friday 22 July to Saturday 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 says: “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?”

The SJT has already announced a busy programme of visiting shows, and will be announcing more in-house productions early next month. For more information, visit www.sjt.uk.com

Brief Encounter can be seen in the Round at the SJT from Friday 22 July to Saturday 27 August. It will then transfer to the Theatre by the Lake in Keswick in September and then to the Octagon Theatre, Bolton, in October.