The Deep Blue Sea at Theatre Royal Haymarket
Terence Rattigan’s The Deep Blue Sea exhales despair like slow poison. The play unfolds across a single day in a dingy 1950s flat in Ladbroke Grove – a setting that fittingly bottles the depression and isolation of post-war London. Fresh from its lauded sell-out run at the Ustinov Studio last year, this West-End revival is directed by Lindsay Posner, and in it, emotions are choked more than they are allowed to erupt. A mirror, indeed, to the crushing weight of social convention and the struggle to hold onto hope in a world where everything – and everyone – seems to be falling apart.
Being Rattigan’s most personal work, it was written in the wake of his former lover Kenneth Morgan’s suicide. The play gives form to the era’s forbidden agonies: suicide, homosexuality, and all other truths branded unspeakable. And so, any expectation of subtlety vanishes the moment the play opens with the shock horror scene of our protagonist Hester Collyer’s (Tamsin Greig) suicide attempt. What led her to such anguish becomes clear when we meet the two men in her life pulling her in opposite directions.
Sir William Collyer (Nicholas Farrell) is a respected high-court judge whom she left for Freddie (Hadley Fraser), a rakishly charming ex-RAF pilot whom she passionately fell for. But Freddie is clearly out of his depth in their relationship, unable to match the intensity of her love that dangerously consumes her. Hester becomes, at times, more of a mother to him: policing his alcohol intake, folding his clothes, even polishing his shoes. But Fraser nonetheless brings out Freddie’s complexity: lost and tragically conflicted about doing what’s right, he delivers one of the play’s most memorable lines: “You and I are death to each other!” William’s courtly restraint, by contrast, reveals a man nursing the quiet heartbreak of someone who can’t let go, and there is still a palpable intimacy between the old couple in their stolen moments alone on stage.
Yet for all her undeniable chemistry with both men, caught between the stability of what was and the fickleness of what will never be, Hester is left alone, loved by neither in the way she needs. Greig’s portrayal of Hester is incredibly measured, mastering her crumbling mental turmoil, restless fiery passion and deadpan dark humour (she vacantly strolls onto stage moments after her attempt, casually asking for a cigarette). Her character bounces off particularly well with Mrs Elton (Selina Cadell), the working-class landlady whose constant fussing around the flat masks genuine concern for Hester’s health. More comedy from the ensemble cast comes from her neighbour Philip Welch (Preston Nyman), whose eggshell-delicate handling of Hester is a painful sight.
While Finbar Lynch as Mr Miller, a former doctor who saves Hester’s life, is an audience favourite for his very dry asides, he’s also the only character who sees Hester clearly. He understands her depression, her numbness, her crisis of purpose, felt by many in this post-war society. In him, Hester finds a friend. “Our only purpose in life is to live it,” he tells her. However, for all its brilliance, the production sometimes hesitates to let audiences sit fully in discomfort, needlessly undercutting heavy lines like these with comedic follow-ups.
The wallpaper is mouldy and peeling away in Peter McKintosh’s living room set, its inhabitants disintegrating in unison. Etta James’s song Stormy Weather eerily cuts between transitions, but with no other music, every bit of dialogue hangs in the air, its suffocating reach extending to the audience. The Deep Blue Sea is a play about mining the depths of oblivion and finding the strength to claw your way back out. It is about the quiet courage of living, and what it means to hold onto life when hope stays just beyond sight.
Ruweyda Sheik Ali
Photos: Manuel Harlan
The Deep Blue Sea is at Theatre Royal Haymarket from 7th May until 21st June 2025. For further information or to book visit the theatre’s website here.
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