Brief Encounter - TNT

It's not every day that you go to the cinema to see a stage adaptation of a classic (1945) film which itself began life as a one-act drama (in 1936). Director Emma Rice and Kneehigh theatre company have successfully merged elements of both media, added Noel Coward's own songs to his original scripts and even partially transformed the Haymarket into a '40's movie house – distributing cucumber sandwiches and showing spoof ads in the intermission. It's a bold enterprise which, for the most, part yields considerable dividends as married middleclass GP Alec removes a piece of grit from the eye of housewife and mother Laura whilst they're waiting for their respective trains to whisk them off in opposite directions. A series of meetings follows, they fall in love - and never stop feeling guilty. There's a tendency for this likeable company to overindulge, but there's more than enough restrained emotion and unexpected comedy (courtesy primarily of Amanda Lawrence's perky waitress Beryl) to make this period romance as poignant as ever, and Rice makes excellent use of black and white cinema footage as Tristan Sturrock's Alec slips through a slit screen to take his seat, on film, on the homeward bound train.
Cinema, Haymarket, SW1 (0870-230 1562). Until June 22. £39.50 - £35