Still Life (Coward)

First presented as part of the Tonight at 8:30 series, a success in London and New York, this short play was the basis for the hit movie Brief Encounter. In a suburban rail station, Dr. Harvey removes a cinder from Laura's eye and they fall in love. Subsequent weekly meetings over tea, scenes debating respectability or love, and some sentimental moments transpire before they decide they must part forever. He is accepting a faraway post and she must return to a circumspect life. At their last meeting, a chattering friend swoops down and there is no chance for a final goodbye.

Still Life was first produced as one of a series of nine one-act plays under the title Tonight At 8.30. The show premiered at the Phoenix Theatre in London in January 1936 under the direction of Noël Coward. The production opened on Broadway at the National Theatre on 24 November 1936.