Brief Encounter at Theatre by the Lake

Casting has been announced for a new production of Noël Coward’s Brief Encounter, adapted for the stage by Emma Rice, at Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre this summer in a co-production with Octagon Theatre Bolton and Theatre by the Lake, Keswick.

Pete Ashmore, Joey Hickman, Robert Jackson, Lara Lewis, Natasha Lewis, Rishi Manuel and Anne-Marie Piazza will be directed by Paul Robinson in Rice’s playful adaptation which turns Coward’s film inside out, adding joyous musical numbers and physical comedy while still maintaining the classic romance of the original.

Pete has appeared on a Theatre by the Lake stage before. In 2019 he was a part of the cast for The Christmas Carol.

The Cast for Brief Encounter, 2022

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 their worlds apart. Will they give in to love’s first rush and risk everything? Has this relationship changed the tracks of their lives forever?

The 1945 film version of Noel Coward’s short play Still Life is a British classic. It was directed by David Lean and starred Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson.