Noël Coward’s Still Life, first performed in the West End in 1936, is one of his most beloved works, but is probably best known as the inspiration for the famous 1945 film Brief Encounter. The Mill at Sonning’s immersive production is playing for a week at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, although it isn’t on the main stage. Instead, it is cleverly staged within the Noël Coward Bar.
If you’re unfamiliar with the story, the plot centres on an unlikely and brief encounter between two happily married people, Laura (Rachel Pickup) and Alec (Alasdair Craig), who keep agreeing to meet each Thursday as their relationship develops into something considerably more complicated.
Afternoon tea is served an hour before the show and what an elegant and refined hour it is. Then the play begins and, if like me your reference point is the film, the transformation of the bar into the Refreshment Room of Milford Junction Station is particularly effective. The layout of the Noël Coward Bar is remarkably similar to that of the Refreshment Room of the movie, with a counter in the middle and our seats surrounding it.
The nature of the production does inevitably result in some restricted views of parts of the action from certain seats, but director Tam Williams keeps things moving and ensures that the key meetings between Laura and Alec are visible for all to see.
The cast of five (Rachel Pickup, Alasdair Craig, Elizabeth Elvin, Antony Jardine and Seren Sandham-Davies) maintain a brisk pace, with several members of the company also doubling as musicians. Serena Sandham-Davies in particular provides much of the instrumental accompaniment, moving between acting and playing as the action unfolds. The music adds considerably to the atmosphere and is beautifully performed. If anything, I actually wished there had been more of it.
The show isn’t exactly one to set the pulses racing, but perhaps that isn’t the point. This is a gentle, elegant and thoroughly civilised way to spend an afternoon, where the pleasure comes as much from the atmosphere, the music and the period detail as from the unfolding romance. In our madcap modern world, it makes for a rather lovely tonic.
Photo by Andreas Lambis Photo: Jack Shaw