Play review – “The Deep Blue Sea” by Terence Rattigan

Immaculate first two acts but drops away a little in the third – mainly, I think, because there’s no need for the third. The bloke’s shot through, the girl’s done her dash – what’s left. So it’s repetition. But the first two thirds is a masterpiece, with Rattigan’s three strongly etched characters – the dutiful husband who partly enjoys his suffering, the dowdy woman swept up in romance (Vivien Leigh even old Vivien Leigh was poorly cast – this is a Maggie Smith type role), and the chipper womaniser who loves the girl but doesn’t. It’s powerful, marvellous stuff.