Her husband is rich and talented, her lover is neither her moral or intellectual equal but she loves him with an intensity that few are capable of - but they are death to each other! Is her only choice between the devil and the deep blue sea?

Terence Mervyn Rattigan - 1911  - 1977
A master craftsman in plot construction and writing telling dialogue. Rattigan first gained fame with French Without Tears (1936). He maintained his light touch through plays such as The Sleeping Prince (1953), an Oliver/Viven Leigh vehicle which Oliver filmed with Marilyn Monroe as The Prince and the Showgirl. In the late fifties Rattigan's obvious commercial appeal led enthusiasts of the new generation of more politically motivated dramatists to dismiss his work as irrelevant. Nevertheless Rattigan, working within the format of the well-made play, tackled issues for deeper than those of conventional Shaftesbury Avenue entertainment, though he presented them with a skill that avoided alienating the respectable middle-class theatre-goer whom he personified as 'Aunt Edna'.

The Deep Blue Sea (1952), originally written as a story of male homosexuals following a tragedy concerning an actor with whom he was in love, touches tragic heights in its presentation of a woman leaving her husband for a man who does not return her love. Rattigan's understanding of the pain of relationships transcends sexual orientation.

There has been a recent revival of Rattigan's plays, In Praise of Love (1974), one of his last plays is currently running in the West End. Over the past few years the Wadham Players have presented a selection of his work, which includes Flarepath, Separate Tables and Harlequinade (from Playbill), the latter winning us second place at the 1994 Waltham Forest Drama Festival.

Performed 18, 19 & 20 May 1995 at Forest Community Centre, Walthamstow