The Deep Blue Sea

Published Wednesday 14 May 2008 at 13:55 by John Thaxter

Terence Rattigan’s classic about a woman’s obsession for a younger man who cannot return her love is spaced from us by more than a half-century. The language and attitudes of the characters may seem stiff and remote, but it speaks oceans of pain beyond its taut, economic dialogue.

Previous productions revealed a woman of stoic dignity, her stillness and gentility creating a shock when she succumbs to the passion of a moment, seizing her well-meaning but reluctant lover and screaming at his departing back.

In Edward Hall’s revival the sense of fifties seediness remains, but Greta Scacchi’s matronly, still glamorous Hester goes beyond the discreet catch in the voice to spell out her despair in tears and anger, takes brisk charge of tricky situations and is capable of a flirtatious flash of suspenders.

While it remains a fine portrayal of mingled emotion and despair, there is also broader playing in the supporting roles. Dugald Bruce-Lockhart’s Freddie is attractively brash as the lover and swaggering war hero on the bottle, but there is little sense of the attraction which brought them together just ten months before.

As Hester’s husband, a high court judge, Simon Williams brings his gift for lightness of touch to a role that calls for tight-lipped compassion, including a finely judged moment as he hesitates at the door before leaving. Tim McMullan is a strong presence as the struck-off doctor who gives Hester sound advice in a vaguely Mittel-European accent, while the young marrieds from across the hall are amusingly gauche as played by Geoff Breton and Rebecca O’Mara (making her West End debut).

The other star of the show is designer Francis O’Connor’s superb setting for the Ladbroke Grove flat, with a translucent back wall that allows us to see visitors before they enter.