Theatre/The Deep Blue Sea by Terence Rattigan, directed by Tony Knight. At Chaika Theatre. ACT Hub, until June 27. Reviewed by ALANNA MACLEAN.

This is a powerful story set in London a few years after World War II and jangling with a restlessness amid tough times and people who find it hard to settle.

It opens with Hester (Jenna Roberts) attempting to take her own life, having abandoned her marriage to Sir William Collyer (Michael Sparks), finding that ex wartime pilot Freddie (Sol Mason) is a less than reliable substitute.

The performances of the central three are sensitive and splendid. Sparks’ Sir William has a gentle dignity but Hester clearly needs more and settles for Freddie’s post-war instability.

Roberts’ performance is clear eyed and convincing about the dilemmas that drive Hester to try to take her own life. And as Freddie, Mason finds both the charm and the destructiveness.

It is a play of its times, however, and that means a supporting cast of lower-class characters who are not without their own insights. Sympathetic landlady Mrs Elton (Kate Blackhurst) runs a decent boarding house and Phillip (Jack Shanahan) and Ann (Meaghan Stewart) are funny but somewhat nosy neighbours and Shanahan’s Phillip reveals a streak of wisdom late in the piece.

Blue Hyslop as bluff Jackie Jackson reinforces the sense of air force wartime mateship that made Freddie what he has become.

Hester may very well find her eventual way through her painting and it is the grumpy ex-doctor Miller (Karen Vickery), struck off the register for reasons that are never made clear but still handing out pills where she can, who points this out.

Elements of Rattigan’s work might seem old fashioned, but Tony Knight’s direction emphasises the human truths of an old play that stands up very well.

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