These tabbed pages contain links to online media releases on the subjects shown. Other media links associated with particular productions or events are shown on the What's On? and Blogs pages.
Current packs of material for use in the media are shown below as Adobe Reader pdfs:
Biography: an online version of Sherdian Morley's summary of Coward's life More...
This biography can be dowloaded as a pdf or Quark file. More...
Bibliography: two pages available - one a recommended reading list for those wishing to find out more about Noël Coward and the other a comprehensive bibliography for those who wish to fins a particularly book by Coward or one about him. Reading list - Bibliography
Chronology: a list of all of the significant events in Coward's life by date. More...
Play notes: notes about the individual plays and musicals of Noël Coward. More...
Theatre timeline: a chronology of all Coward's theatre works with dates of writing, production and adaptations. More...
Reviews for Brief Encounter at The Guthrie Theatre
NEW This Weekend’s Song & Dance by Christina Cordova
(SecretsoftheCity)
First off, if you haven’t already done so, go see Noël Coward’s Brief Encounter at the Guthrie. It is fantastic — easily one of the best productions I’ve even seen in Minnesota. It is beautifully acted, beautifully executed, beautifully produced, and the details are both simple and brilliant — from the perfectly modest and moving walk-in music, to the use of the film (which Coward himself is said to have loved), to the clever set changes, to the marionette children. It’s a must see.
Brief Encounter @ the Guthrie by Kelly Krantz
(METRO Magazine)
The Guthrie tricked me. Armed with little information about the current Brief Encounter aside from the plot summary, I assumed I'd be attending a pleasant but perfunctory play with a sweet but ultimately forgettable love story at the core. What I saw was the most lively show since last year's beloved hit Caroline and I was deeply moved by the play's central characters, a set of lovers who simply cannot be.
Noel Coward's Brief Encounter well worth the trip by Erin Carlyle
(City Pages)
Brief Encounter, Noel Coward's heartbreaking tale of an affair between two married people, is playing at the Guthrie -- and if you haven't seen it yet, we highly recommend it. The play, which tells the sad tale of housewife Laura and doctor Alec in forbidden, impossible love, has gotten rave reviews throughout the city. Informed by Coward's experience of being gay when society shunned homosexuality, the play is full of the longing and sadness of unsatisfied desire.
Brief Encounter by Kate Iverson
(SecretsoftheCity)
If you haven't snapped up tickets to Kneehigh Theatre's production of Noël Coward’s Brief Encounter at the Guthrie yet, we suggest you do it tout de suite! This theatrical gem blends innovative visual projection work with mad cap comedy, charming musical interludes, and heartbreaking - if not taboo - romance. An all-Brit cast rounds out an emotive show centering on the brief but intense love affair between two unhappily married people. As you can imagine, drama ensues, though the mood is kept light by the supporting cast, whose endearing antics manage to seamlessly branch off into intertwined, love-infused storylines of their own. Each character owns their role and the ensemble as a whole has an undeniable chemistry.
“Brief Encounter” is satisfying quickie theater by John Sand
(Minnesota Daily)
All over the world tonight, you can hear the sound of lovers in love. But what happens when they aren’t in love with the one they married? This conundrum is the basis of the Guthrie Theater’s latest production, “Brief Encounter,” which is part poignant 1930s musical, part dry British sitcom. The production is based on Noël Coward’s one-act play “Still Life,” which was adapted into a 1945 film, and unlike many contemporary plays, it is brief — a mere 95 minutes, without intermission.
Kneehigh Theatre's BRIEF ENCOUNTER at the Guthrie by Andrew Newman
(BroadwayWorld)
There's one thing Kneehigh Theatre wants you to know heading into BRIEF ENCOUNTER: this show is romantic. And it most certainly is - in the most British way imaginable. Director/writer Emma Rice's adaptation of the 1945 David Lean/Noel Coward film is a stunning mix of theatre, film and music that is as imaginative as it is achingly romantic. Laura and Alec are two Londoners who meet by chance in a train station café. The attraction is immediate, and their relationship grows as they meet again and again. As mutual attraction becomes physical attraction and love, Laura begins to contemplate turning to Alec over her boring husband.
Noel Coward's Brief Encounter embarks on a short but passionate journey by Quinton Skinner
(City Pages)
In the train station café in which much of the action occurs in Kneehigh Theatre's wistful adaptation of Noël Coward, patrons and vendors shake and rattle when the locomotives rumble past; at other moments, an invisible breeze blows through, buffeting everyone. Trembling, swooning, and moments of eyes-closed rapture are the order of the day for our principal protagonists.
Brief Encounter @ The Guthrie by Tad Simons
(Mpls.St.Paul Magazine)
They may call themselves Kneehigh Theatre, but after the final curtain dropped on the British troupe’s imaginative re-telling of Noel Coward’s Brief Encounter opening night, everyone was standing tall, applauding wildly for a show that bends genres, mixes media, and generally delights in every imaginable way. Romance, laughter, tears, songs, spectacle, and schtick, this show has it all. Okay, maybe not all. There’s no violence or bloodshed. No zombies, either. And the sex is pretty tame. But other than that . . .
'Brief Encounter' takes movie, dives deeper by Chris Hewitt
(Pioneer Press)
I don't know how to say this any more plainly: Do not miss "Brief Encounter." Kneehigh Theatre's adaptation of the 1945 film, playing at the Guthrie Theater through April 3, is a captivating evening of theater that rips down the invisible wall between performers and audience. We are introduced to main characters Alec and Laura, Brits who are conducting an affair as heated as it could be without anyone getting naked, while they watch a movie that seems to be "Brief Encounter." From that moment on, the show will constantly reinvent the space in the Guthrie's McGuire Proscenium Stage: entering the movie screen at the rear of the stage, joining us in the seats and, in an opening-night technical difficulty that felt like a charmed accident, basking in blinding house lights that made us feel at one with the performers.
At the Guthrie, Kneehigh Theatre's "Brief Encounter" is exuberant and heart-tugging by Jay Gabler
(TCDailyPlanet)
As we sat down for Saturday night's performance of Kneehigh Theatre's Brief Encounter at the Guthrie's McGuire Proscenium Stage, I was telling my friend Teresa that I'd always found that stage to be a space performers had to struggle to overcome—that they had to work especially hard in that space to connect with the audience. Just then, a performer walked out and stood in the aisle. Then he started playing the spoons, and how can you not feel a connection with a guy playing the spoons?
Kneehigh Theatre’s Brief Encounter an affair to remember by Brad Richason
(Examiner)
In the bravura opening scene to Noël Coward’s Brief Encounter, now being staged at the Guthrie by England’s innovative Kneehigh Theatre, the play’s two central figures, Laura and Alec, are introduced amidst a romantic breakdown that interrupts the start of a movie. Dashing from the audience, Laura climbs to the stage and, despite Alec’s pleading, steps through the screen. Her projected image instantly appears, larger-than-life and thoroughly out of reach. Such cleverly inventive moments, coupled with an exemplary cast, transform Brief Encounter from simple melodrama into a passionate valentine to romantic escapism.
'Brief Encounter:' Fresh twist on a classic by Pat Evans
(KARE 11)
One of Britain's and perhaps America's top 100 movies of all time, Noel Coward's Brief Encounter has hit the stage at the Guthrie. The impossible love affair between an unhappy housewife and a married physician she meets at a train station transports the audience back more than 6 decades to World War II. Some very clever production montages include film clips and snappy live music and each offers layers of texture. Performed in one act with no intermission, the 90 minute show takes the audience on a roller coaster ride of life's most complicated and yet most meaningful emotions; love.
Coward’s double header does more than entertain by Ed Huyck
(MinnPost)
The Guthrie Theater is the last stop on the current tour of "Brief Encounter," Kneehigh Theatre's innovative and moving adaptation of the film written by Coward. Laura (Hannah Yelland) and Alec (Milo Twomey) meet one day at the train station, when she gets a bit of grit in her eye and he, a doctor, helps her get it out. From there, a brief and rather low-key affair blossoms. The two are desperately in love, but both have spouses, children and their lives holding them back. The love is doomed from the start, but they hold on to it desperately to the very end.
Coward's "Encounter" struggles to express itself by Graydon Royce
(Star Tribune)
It seems beyond debate that Kneehigh Theatre's adaptation of "Brief Encounter" has trampled the delicate sensibilities of Noël Coward's 1946 film. Emma Rice's troupe gleefully takes a theatrical jackhammer to this exquisite movie about prim British lovers who realize from the start that their little affair is doomed. Set that argument aside, though, because this production, which opened Saturday as part of the Guthrie Theater's WorldStage Series, deserves to be judged on its own terms. Adapting a film for stage requires a sophisticated balance of pushing and pulling, and occasionally following the plot word for word. Kneehigh fearlessly charges forward with a highly theatrical construct built on physical inventiveness, flights of fancy, deconstruction of psychological moods and freshening comedy.
Reviews of previous performances of Brief Encounter
Theater review: 'Noel Coward's Brief Encounter' at American Conservatory Theater: Los Angeles Times
Kneehigh Theatre's Brief Encounter - World Premiere at The Guthrie Theater: Playbill
'Brief Encounter' Leaves Lasting Impression: The Daily Californian
Extended Again, San Francisco Brief Encounter Run Will Be Less Brief: Playbill
ACT’s Brief Encounter extended… again: Stark Silver Creek
Connecting With Fans Via Live Theater As Well... techdirt.com
Bold, new version of 'Brief Encounter' at American Conservatory Theatre: mercurynews.com
"Enchanting...Ms. Rice has pulled off the difficult trick of deconstructing something without destroying its heart" - The New York Times
"Rice and her theatre company, Kneehigh, have taken a classic weepie - and turned it into a bold, experimental piece of theatre that will appeal to romantics and deconstructionists alike." - The Evening Standard (My affair with Brief Encounter)
"Kneehigh uses its joyous theatricality to bring a cinematic icon to life.." - Financial Times
Present Laughter •
Reviews package (pdf 1.5mb)
New York Daily News • Broadway's bright take on Noel Coward's 'Present Laughter' proves play still relevant
New York Times • Shades of Coward, Robed in Silk and Self-Devotion
Financial Times • Present Laughter, American Airlines Theater, New York
Bloomberg • Corn-fed Garber Mismatched With ‘Present Laughter’: John Simon
Reuters • "Present Laughter" revival no laughing matter
Times Herald-Record • Noel Coward's 'Present Laughter' falls flat
Livejournal.com • Present Laughter's Holley Fain on Making it to Broadway
Village Voice • The hilariously extravagant set (by Alexander Dodge) and costumes (by Jane Greenwood)...
Private Lives at Salisbury • The Stage "It bubbles with invention and slips down in a satisfying gurgle of pleasure like vintage champagne.
Colin Falconer’s set is all curved elegance and the gowns are gorgeous, but director Philip Wilson is not content with superficial artifice and proves that Coward’s comedy is not just about surface wit and posturing - although there is plenty of that, especially in the beautifully done opening terrace scene."
Not quite vintage Coward but entertaining nonetheless.
Eclipse Magazine
Easy Virtue opens strongly in New York and Los Angeles.
THR.com
Movie Review:
The Epoch Times
Scott Thomas, Biel, Firth Star in "Easy Virtue," -
Playbil
l"Easy Virtue" is Noel Coward's delicious play about genteel folks to the manor born who are shocked, shocked by the antics of an American woman who has married into the family.
Niagara Falls Reporter
Easy Romp stays true to Coward
Pittsburg Post-Gazette
'Easy Virtue' is hard on farce
The Baltimore Sun
Colin Firth and Jessica Biel cut a rug in the '30s-set dramatic-comedy 'Easy Virtue.
New Orleans Movie News
Media links on Noël Coward . . .
Waiting in the Wings by Noel Coward, which opened last night. "Wings" is an old-fashioned three-act butt numb-er, but it has good performances, some of Coward’s trademark sparkling dialogue, and an interesting setting to recommend it.
Web
