A new production of Brief Encounter is being staged by the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough

The Stephen Joseph Theatre is staging Emma Rice’s version of the Noël Coward classic Brief Encounter. Nick Ahad reports.
Rehearsals for the Stephen Joseph Theatre's production of Brief Encounter.Rehearsals for the Stephen Joseph Theatre's production of Brief Encounter.
Rehearsals for the Stephen Joseph Theatre's production of Brief Encounter.

Paul Robinson, artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, is a fan of the work of Emma Rice.

Although, that’s not really much of a revelation: it’s like saying England cricket fans are enjoying the recent work of Young Jonny Bairstow.

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What is interesting is that, having seen a lot of Rice’s work, there is a celebrated piece by the former artistic director of Kneehigh Theatre and the Globe that Robinson hasn’t seen: Brief Encounter.

Rehearsals for the Stephen Joseph Theatre's production of Brief Encounter.Rehearsals for the Stephen Joseph Theatre's production of Brief Encounter.
Rehearsals for the Stephen Joseph Theatre's production of Brief Encounter.

Why is this relevant? Robinson is about to scale the mountain of restaging Rice’s version of the Noel Coward classic in a brand new production.

The Rice version took the Noël Coward script, filmed by David Lean in 1945, and breathed stunning new life into it in a 2007 production which opened at the Birmingham Rep in October of that year before coming to Yorkshire and playing the Quarry Theatre of what was then called the West Yorkshire Playhouse.

To say the adaptation was a success is like saying Joe Root’s reverse sweep shot for six is well executed. The Rice production was a phenomenon, playing in London, New York, San Francisco, Australia, Washington – the list goes on.

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“I’m so pleased I never saw Emma’s original production because I think I would have been far too intimidated to take it on,” says Robinson.

Rehearsals for the Stephen Joseph Theatre's production of Brief Encounter.Rehearsals for the Stephen Joseph Theatre's production of Brief Encounter.
Rehearsals for the Stephen Joseph Theatre's production of Brief Encounter.

“I was of course aware of it and aware of its growth from the regions into London and New York and then around the world.”

So, if he was aware of it and, rightly, intimidated by it, why take it on in a new production?

The reason can be traced back to the visionary whose name is above the door of the Scarborough theatre; Stephen Joseph. In 1955 it was he who brought theatre in the round to Britain and it is that shape that convinced Robinson he could do something new and interesting with Emma Rice’s play.

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“I think it was the same thing with The 39 Steps, which we brought here after it had such a successful run previously. The reason to do it here is because the new thing is to do it in the round,” says Robinson.

Paul Robinson, artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre, who is directing Brief EncounterPaul Robinson, artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre, who is directing Brief Encounter
Paul Robinson, artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre, who is directing Brief Encounter

“I’ve been speaking to Emma about this for a long time and she said this beautifully contradictory thing to me early on. She said ‘this is entirely yours, it’s over to you, see what new things you can find, I’m done with this piece’. Then

a little later down the line,

she said ‘I would really like to see how it could be done in the round’.”

It is a mark of Robinson’s confidence that he tells this story. While he is generous towards Rice’s previous production and work, the truth is he is no fool, he has clear and strong ideas about how to stage this piece and will undoubtedly put his stamp on a new production.

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Having said that, anyone who saw Rice’s piece will know that it was such a highly stylised piece of work that it’s difficult to imagine anybody but Rice staging it: much of the magic came from her imaginative way of directing the piece.

“She’s done a brilliant dramaturgical job and removed all of the stage directions, so we’re coming to this with a really clean slate,” says Robinson.

That’s the thing about this production; for all the bells and whistles of the directorial style of Rice, the play is still the thing, the words on the page the place it all begins.

“The dramaturgical instinct she has followed is to return to Still Life (the 1936 Noël Coward one- act play which formed the basis of Brief Encounter). It is utterly brilliant, it’s like Chekhov in the way the characters are drawn and the growth of the character and the internal conflicts – it’s why actors are so drawn to telling this story.”

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Brief Encounter tells the story of Laura, a respectable middle-class English woman in a dull marriage with Fred, whose internal life is upended when she almost falls into an affair with a handsome stranger, doctor Alec Harvey. The bare bones of the story tell very little about what Coward’s – and subsequently Rice’s – scripts explore in terms of unfulfilled lives, longing and suppressed emotion and ambition. The film is regularly listed in the top ten great films of all time.

“I’m bringing it to a summer slot in which I’m trying to bring stories that people in Scarborough will know but might not have seen before. These iconic productions – like The 39 Steps before it – are productions I think people in Scarborough should have the opportunity to see,” says Robinson.

“Emma says she is really

keen to see other visions for this play and I think the people in Scarborough will enjoy seeing a story that they might think they know, but seeing it in an entirely different way.”

The other figure that looms large is, of course, Coward himself. Robinson is keen that we don’t think of Coward as perhaps the parody he has become in some quarters.

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“When they think of Coward people often think of this very arch way of speaking, they consider it something to poke fun at, this upper-class way of behaving, but I think the brilliance of this play is that it explodes the idea of Coward.

“There is a danger of his work becoming museum pieces, but I think when people experience

his work in this way, they will realise that he wrote with enormous insight into the human condition.

“I hope we do what Emma encouraged me to do, which is to simply tell the story and have some fun along the way.”

Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, July 22- August 27. Tickets from the box office 01723 370541 or sjt.com