Overview
Terence Rattigan’s devastating masterpiece, a classic study of
forbidden love, suppressed desire and the fear of loneliness – but at
heart a deeply moving love story.
A flat in Ladbroke Grove, West London. 1952. When Hester Collyer is
found by her neighbours in the aftermath of a failed suicide attempt,
the story of her tempestuous affair with a former RAF pilot and the
breakdown of her marriage to a High Court judge begins to emerge. With
it comes a portrait of need, loneliness and long-repressed passion.
Behind the fragile veneer of post-war civility burns a brutal sense of loss and longing.
First performed in 1952, The Deep Blue Sea was revived at the National Theatre in 2016, in a production directed by Carrie Cracknell and starring Helen McCrory as Hester.