The Sacred Flame

Synopsis

Written in the 1920s. World War One hero Maurice Tabret is disabled after a flying accident, tended lovingly by his mother, his beautiful wife Stella, and the devoted Nurse Wayland. When he dies from an overdose during the night, and it is revealed that Stella is in love with Maurice's brother Colin and is expecting a baby, questions begin to be raised as to whether it was murder or suicide.

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 18 September 2012

English Touring Theatre’s revival of Somerset Maugham’s 1928 melodrama is the latest manifestation of a renewed interest in the forgotten part of the repertoire; it’s a murder mystery as well as an “issue” drama about mercy killing that still strikes a real chord.

But what really intrigues is Maugham’s writing about female sexuality and compassion. There are three great roles in the play for women devoted, in separate ways, to Maurice Tabret (Jamie De Courcey) the bed-bound victim of a plane crash, who has lain inert for five years, conscious but helpless; and dead below the waist.

His pretty young wife Stella (Beatriz Romilly) has remained loyal but has also sought discreet physical comfort with Maurice’s brother, Colin (David Riccardo-Pearce), a coffee plantation owner from Guatemala. His nurse, Wayland (Sarah Churm), offers hi...

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