The Deep Blue Sea

Written in the early fifties when Rattigan was at the height of his powers, The Deep Blue Sea is a powerful account of lives blighted by love - or the lack of it.

The play opens with the failed suicide of Hester Collyer (Peggy Ashcroft in the first production), who has deserted her husband for the raffish charms of an ex-fighter pilot.

Terence Rattigan's The Deep Blue Sea was first performed at the Duchess Theatre in the West End in March 1952.

This edition includes an authoritative introduction, biographical sketch and chronology.

'Few dramatists of this century have written with more understanding of the human heart than Terence Rattigan'Michael Billington



Sir Terence Rattigan was one of the most popular English 20th-century dramatists. His first play, First Episode, was produced in 1934; his best-known later works include After the Dance, Flare Path, The Browning Version and The Deep Blue Sea. Many of his plays have been adapted for film, and are frequently revived. He also served as an RAF tail gunner in WWII.



'A masterpiece... a play that cuts at the heart'



'Probably his greatest play... Ibsenesque'



'Masterly... a perennially moving play'



'Excellent... particularly moving... interlaced with moments of humour and black comedy'