POWERFUL, HEART-WRENCHING, LUMINATING

Terence Rattigan's Flare Path succeeds in creating the extreme emotional landscape of people in times of war, where relationships are never certainly forever and each farewell might be the last. Written in 1941 and staged in 1942, the play was influenced by his experiences in the RAF as a tail-gunner in WW2 and uses a personal dilemma to explore the group ethos. Set in 1942 in the Lobby of the Falcon Hotel near a Bomber Command airbase on the Lincolnshire coast, actress Patricia has come to meet her boyish Flight Lieutenant husband Teddy. Having married Teddy on a whim, it is her intention to break off their marriage for her ex-lover and Hollywood star, Peter Kyle, whose affections for her are much more sensual than Teddy's trophy admiration for her.

 

Her resolve softens however when Teddy, finally alone with her, breaks down and she sees that Teddy actually needs her. Patricia finds herself caught in a painful predicament, struggling with extra-marital desires and patriotic duties, and the situation becomes all the more difficult when Peter arrives in the hopes of claiming back the love of his life.

Starring Sienna Miller as Patricia, James Purefoy as Peter and Harry Hadden-Paton as Teddy, the superbly crafted, entertaining and beautifully rich revival of is directed by highly accomplished Trevor Nunn.