The Deep Blue Sea (play)

File:TheDeepBlueSea.jpg

First edition (publ. Hamish Hamilton)

The Deep Blue Sea is a British stage play by Terence Rattigan from 1952. Rattigan based his story and characters in part on his secret relationship with Kenny Morgan, and the aftermath of the end of their relationship.<ref>Sinfield, Alan, Out on Stage: Lesbian and Gay Theatre in the Twentieth Century. Yale University Press (New Haven, Connecticut, US), Template:ISBN, p 160 (1999).</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The play was first performed in London on 6 March 1952, directed by Frith Banbury, and won praise for actress Peggy Ashcroft, who co-starred with Kenneth More.<ref name="Ridley">Template:Cite news</ref> In the US, the Plymouth Theater staged the play in October 1952, with Margaret Sullavan.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The play with Sullavan subsequently transferred to Broadway, with its Broadway premiere on 5 November 1953, and running for 132 performances.

Prior to Rattigan's coding of his relationship with Morgan into the heterosexual relationship between Hester and Freddie, his first draft of the play more specifically treated the relationship between the lead characters as a homosexual relationship, and also hinted that the reason for the striking off of Miller, the ex-doctor in the play, from the medical register was Miller's homosexuality.<ref name="Ridley"/><ref>Williams, Tony, 'Wanted for Murder: The Strange Case of Eric Portman', Chapter 10 from Bad: Infamy, Darkness, Evil, and Slime on Screen (Murray Pomerance, editor). State University of New York Press (Albany, New York, US), Template:ISBN, p 166 (2004).</ref>

Plot summary

Taking place over the course of one day, the play begins with the discovery of Hester Collyer in her flat by her neighbours, after Hester has failed in an attempt to take her own life by gassing herself. In flashback, sometime before, Hester left her husband, Sir William Collyer, a respectable High Court judge, for a semi-alcoholic former RAF pilot, Freddie Page. Their relationship was physical and passionate, but his ardour eventually cooled, leaving her emotionally stranded and desperate. Initially unemployed, Freddie eventually takes a post in South America. The aftershocks of her attempted suicide unravel even the remnants of this relationship. By the end of the day, Hester is brought to a hard decision to live, partly through the intercession of another resident of the tenement house, Mr. Miller, an ex-doctor who has been struck off the register for an undisclosed reason. These two outcasts find a curious kinship.

Revivals

Revivals of the play have included:

• 1971: Yvonne Arnaud Theatre Guildford, with Isabel Dean<ref name="Vallance">Template:Cite news</ref>
• 1972: Nottingham, with Isabel Dean<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1977: Croydon and Cambridge, with Sheila Hancock and Clive Francis<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1977: Ten-week UK tour, with Honor Blackman<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1981: Greenwich Theatre, with Dorothy Tutin and Clive Francis<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1988: Haymarket Theatre, London: with Penelope Keith<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1993: Almeida Theatre, London, then Apollo Theatre, London, with Penelope Wilton and Linus Roache<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 1997: Royal Exchange, Manchester with Susan Wooldridge. Directed by Marianne Elliott.
• 1998: Roundabout Theatre Company, New York City, with Blythe Danner, Edward Herrmann, and David Conrad<ref name="Ridley"/>
• 2003: Richmond Theatre, London, with Harriet Walter, Neil Stacy, Robert Portal and Roger Lloyd-Pack<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 2008: Six-week UK tour then Vaudeville Theatre, London, with Greta Scacchi, Dugald Bruce-Lockhart, and Simon Williams<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 2011: West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, with Maxine Peake and Lex Shrapnel<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 2011: Chichester Festival Theatre, with Amanda Root, Anthony Calf and John Hopkins<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 2016: National Theatre, London, with Helen McCrory, Peter Sullivan, and Tom Burke<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 2019: Chichester Festival Theatre (Minerva Studio), with Nancy Carroll<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2024: Ustinov Studio, Bath, with Tamsin Greig<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Adaptations

A number of adaptations for other media of The Deep Blue Sea have been made. The first, for BBC Television, was broadcast live on 17 and 21 January 1954 in the Sunday Night Theatre strand, with Kenneth More as Freddie, and Googie Withers as Hester. Also, Googie toured Australia and New Zealand in a production presented by JC Williamson Theatres. A further BBC version, in the Play of the Month series was transmitted on 17 March 1974. Directed by Rudolph Cartier, it starred Peter Egan (Freddie), and Virginia McKenna (Hester).

The most recent BBC adaptation, in the Performance strand, was transmitted on 12 November 1994, directed by Karel Reisz, with Colin Firth (Freddie Page), Penelope Wilton (Hester Collyer), and Ian Holm (William Collyer).

In 2009, BBC Radio Three broadcast a radio adaptation, starring Carolyn Pickles as Hester and Anton Lesser as William Collyer. This was repeated in 2016.

A feature film version directed by Anatole Litvak was released in 1955, with More reprising the role of Freddie, and Vivien Leigh as Hester.

In 2011, a second feature film adaptation was released, directed by Terence Davies and featuring Rachel Weisz, Tom Hiddleston, and Simon Russell Beale.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The 2016 National Theatre version of the play, starring Helen McCrory as Hester, was filmed and shown live in cinemas worldwide on 1 September 2016 as part of National Theatre Live.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> This filmed performance was made available for one week on YouTube in July 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic as part of National Theatre At Home.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

External links

• Hannah Giles, 'Brief Encounter With ... Lex Shrapnel'. What's On Stage blog, 29 January 2011
• UK Theatre Web page on The Deep Blue Sea