'Brief Encounter' To Close Before Major 2009 Tour

The incredibly successful production of 'Brief Encounter' is to extend for the forth time before eventually closing mid November.
The show opened in Feb of this year for an 8 week season at the specially converted main screen auditorium of the 3 screen complex, Cinema Haymarket. It has been continually extended thru the summer.
The show will open a 27 week national tour in Feb 2009 and will seek, initially, to play in old cinemas or in converted screens as in London on most of its tour stops. Special permission has to be granted by local councils for live theatre to play in cinemas so when a council refuses the show will play in the main theatre of that city.
The show is then due to return to the Cinema Haymarket in Dec 2009 with a Broadway production in the works for October 2009 also.
I've raved about this production an awful lot on here and have seen it now 5 times. It is an absolutely fabulous evening in the theatre! GO!

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Updated On: 8/27/08 at 10:07 AM

Sunday November 16th Matinee will be the last London performance.

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I plan on going on Sunday 14th September. That's my date I've put aside for it. Hopefully I can get TKTS, they seem to do it on Sundays. ^_^

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so i get paid on friday, and have always been quite interested in this concept, what does Mr. Wickedboy think about me possibly seeing the show, worth a dip into the bank balance?

The tour opens in Northampton in February. Dates should be confirmed at other venues pretty soon. If there's gonna be any delays etc it will be due to councils refusing to give live performance permits to certain venues that the tour will try and play. Every town and city that all of us know has a suitable venue for this show to play in!

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It's sooooo Weez, this show!
She'll be on here Monday morning blubbing away!
Lol x

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..... you mean there's swords?

(Srsly, Michael Boyd has ruined me forever. I need swordfighting, and I feel totally conned if there's no lashings of blood to go with it. XD)

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Theatre Royal Feb 13th.
You must remember that theatres book shows and don't automatically tell the public until they have built up a season. Its early days anyway regarding the tour. It was only announced late on Monday night it was closing in town with a tour to follow.

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I've been in theatre management in provincial theatre so know how it works. Contracts come and go for many, many shows and seasons built rather fast or very slowly. Slowly is more the case these days i think!

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have any dates been announced yet? What about the New York production?

Do you have any info on Cardiff? My sister lives in Cardiff and I'm planning on a visit in 09 to see her. I live here in the states and I really wanted to see this show.

I'm really livid right now. I was at the Brent Cross TKTS this morning at 10:15AM and their printout for the day did NOT have today's matinee listed, and when I asked I got a gruff "it's closing week, no discounts."

I saw the website now (they rarely update it before 10:45 and the shows with low allocations disappear first) and it was listed. This afternoon was my last chance to go as my evenings are booked through Friday and I'd be incredibly surprised if there were any discounts offered for the weekend.

So, in short, **** you TKTS. Now I know why I've used you once in 15 months of living in London.

"Cant you stretch out a few more £s for a ticket- its still cheaper than most other West End shows- you will not regret a single penny of it!"

Oh, I know it's great - I saw it during previews and wanted to sneak in a return before it closed but time was against me and I've got a lot of paid shows coming up. Being a freelancer may get me paid once or twice a month to write reviews but it does *not* get me comped tickets unless I find them myself on the papering services. So yeah, I can't justify anything over £30 for a ticket or I'd have seen REM and Cliff Richard in concert as it's not like rock stars discount (though perhaps they should!)

"What a shame and what bastards for doing that."

Indeed. I target some of my bile towards whoever decided that only couples deserved discounts otherwise. I get the desire and the logic for 2-for-1 promotions (guaranteed seat fill) but most of my friends work nights and I don't have a sweetheart so no half price ticket for me!

The weird thing is that when they first opened the Brent Cross booth had a live update of availability on the LED monitor, but now it's just used for adverts and they stick a pair of printouts on the desk.

"TKTS should be kept simple, as simple as it was for its first 30 years when everyone had to go to the booth - cash, no credit cards and you didn't know what was going to be sold until it opened at 12.30pm. "

Well, booth opens at 10 now and nobody knows what it'll have before then. I don't mind them taking cards though as I spend cash if I carry it.