By Helen Musa

Terence Rattigan is not a name often heard in theatre circles these days, but ACT Hub is about to set that to rights with its coming production of his play The Deep Blue Sea.

In his heyday, Rattigan was celebrated for his actor-friendly plays, including The Winslow Boy, The Browning Version and Separate Tables, but The Deep Blue Sea is especially remarkable for what producer Karen Vickery describes as “a central role that is stunning for a woman”.

Set in 1950s London, the play follows Hester Collyer, a woman trapped in the aftermath of a passionate affair with Freddie Page, a troubled ex-RAF pilot for whom she left her husband, a respected High Court judge.

After surviving an attempt to gas herself, Hester is forced to confront the collapse of her relationship as Freddie prepares to leave for South America.

Through conversations with her neighbours and the quiet support of Mr. Miller, she faces the difficult decision to keep living.

Canberra performer Jenna Roberts will take on the tour de force role of Hester, made famous by actors such as Peggy Ashcroft, Vivien Leigh, Penelope Wilton, Virginia McKenna and Googie Withers, who originated the role in BBC television history in 1954, then toured it here with her husband John McCallum for JC Williamson Theatres.

For director Tony Knight, a former NIDA head of acting, it’s a first encounter with the play, although he thinks they did The Winslow Boy when he was a pupil at Sydney Grammar.

“Rattigan is a beautiful writer,” Knight says, noting how skilled he is at dealing with the sensitive subject of suicide.

There are eight characters in the play, with an all-star Canberra cast of Jenna Roberts, Michael Sparks, Sol Mason, Karen Vickery, Kate Blackhurst, Jack Shanahan, Blue Hyslop and Meaghan Stewart.

Vickery plays the role of Miller in a bit of cross-gender casting that Knight says gives “a lovely twist to the ending… we are doing something a bit different.”

As the play progresses, we see Hester finding a friend in Miller in an asexual relationship. Miller is a figure of mystery, never married, a former doctor who has been deregistered and once interned on the Isle of Man. 

“It’s very much a play about adult love among the ruins,” Vickery says. “Virtually everybody suffers from lost love, quite different from plays about young love.

“He touches the sublime in the play… we see characters caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, asking: ‘What options do I have?’”

The play takes place in one room and in real time, over 24 hours and three acts, although I am assured it will run for only about two hours.

To be sure, it’s a period piece, set in the early 1950s, and yes, class comes into it. Hester is beginning to recognise that grand passions do not last. She is still technically married to High Court judge Sir William Collyer (Sparks), who remains in love with her, but no character is a villain.

Other characters include Freddie, played by Mason, his friend Jackie Jackson, played by Blue Hyslop, and the nosy landlady Mrs Elton, played by Kate Blackhurst.

Knight reports that he is thoroughly enjoying the rehearsal process so far, partly because “Rattigan’s language is so precise and he writes for the eloquently anguished.”

And fear not, he says, it is not a tragedy. The characters all survive.

The Deep Blue Sea, Chaika Theatre, ACT Hub Causeway Hall, Kingston, June 12-17.