London cinema to host a stage & screen production

posted by HowardBHaas on January 9, 2008 at 7:45 am

LONDON, ENGLAND — A stage production based on David Lean’s film Brief Encounters will begin February 2 at “The Cinema on The Haymarket” (Cineworld Haymarket) and last until at least June 22. Both stage and screen will be used. Westminster Council agreed to change the use from cinema to live shows on stage. The official, gala opening will be on February 17. Top price tickets will be only $29.50 pounds, a bargain for the West End.

There will be a red carpet every night for a Brief Encounter with a fabulous difference. A new multi-layered stage production based on the David Lean film, which in turn was adapted from Noel Coward’s one-act 1936 play Still Life, will begin previews at a new venue to be known as The Cinema on The Haymarket from February 2.

Well, it’s sort of new. Actually, it occupies the cinema on The Haymarket, currently called Cineworld, which is on the site of the former Carlton Theatre.

The auditorium boasts Art Deco chandeliers, and the 444 seats, because they’re designed for a cinema, all have perfect views. To keep with the Forties period, staff will wear cinema attendant uniforms of the era and the cinema, inside and out, will be dressed with a nod to another age.

The article does not state whether movies will continue in the two auditoriums placed in the former stalls (orchestra).

Theaters in this post

• Empire Cinemas - London Haymarket