Flare Path

Synopsis

It is 1942. At the Falcon Hotel, on the edge of an airfield in Lincolnshire, Teddy, a young bomber pilot is celebrating a reunion with his actress wife Patricia. Events take an unexpected turn, when Peter a famous heartthrob film star arrives, and an urgent bombing mission over Germany is ordered. As the night gives way to dawn, Patricia finds herself at the centre of a passionate conflict of love and loyalty as unpredictable as the war in the skies. Flare Path was first performed in the West End at the Apollo Theatre in 1942. It is based on Rattigan’s own Bomber Command experiences when he served as a tail gunner during the Second World War.

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 14 March 2011

Apart from a modestly cast King’s Head revival twenty years ago, Terence Rattigan’s second commercial success, Flare Path (1942), has been unjustly forgotten, and Trevor Nunn’s superb production marks not only the playwright’s centenary but also his own new season as the Haymarket’s artistic director.

Members of Britain’s war-time bomber command are stationed near the Falcon Hotel in Lincolnshire, where the film actor Peter Kyle (James Purefoy) turns up to pursue his affair with former actress Patricia Warren (Sienna Miller), now married to flight lieutenant Teddy Graham (Harry Hadden-Paton).

Rattigan untangles this romantic situation with great skill, revealing deep ties of dependency, exacerbated by the bombing experience, while animating the lives of other airmen and their partners, notably the flirtatious Cockney countess Doris (Sheridan Smith), married to Mark Dexter’s Polish daredevil, ...

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Latest User Review

David Baxter - 5 May 2011:

2nd attempt at posting so here's hoping! I have seldom heard an audience as quiet as during trevor Nunn's superb revival of Rattigan's Flare Path. You felt completely drawn in to the events onstage sharing all the highs and lows of the emotions experienced by the bomber crew and their loved ones. At one point you could feel the disapproval of the Americanised film star swanning around in civvies and threatening the marriage of one of the pilots. I was a bit unsure about the happy ending but it is understandable that rattigan wanted to give a wartime audience something to be optimistic about, but he also provides an unflinching portrayal of the terrifying pressure suffered by the young airmen who were all too aware of their slim chances of survival. There is not a weak link in a superb cast. James Purefoy is eminently hissable as the film star ovesexed and over here. Sheridan Smith is wonderful as Doris, a barmaid come Polish countess struggling to maintain her humour and composure in the most desperate circumstances. Sienna Miller is also very good as the wavering actress. I have seen her in three plays now in London and New York and she is proving to be a more natural stage performer than Keira Knightley, although each play has seen similar characters in a 1940s setting. I am sure she will prove to be more versatile if given the opportunity. I have found some of Trevor Nunn's recent efforts to be rather dour and long-winded but Flare Path is a triumph and deserves to emulate After the Dance to reap awards for another great Rattigan revival....

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