Giving out Tunnock’s teacakes was always going to have me on board. Noel Coward’s script, which inspired ‘A Brief Encounter’, is set in the station tearoom, as lives go on while in this place of limbo. Consequently the station staff have more prominence and there are both middle and working class romances; one to provide all the drama and pathos, the other comic relief. This class division reminds us firmly that it is another age and possibly as a result there’s something mannered about every twirl of a teaspoon, making it hard to engage with the tragedy. However, despite having to follow such a well-known film, the company do a jolly good job, bringing a touch of wit to the affair.

C aquila, 2-27 (not 12), 3.20pm.
tw rating 3/5 | [Lia Sanders]