Flare Path

Devonshire Park Theatre, Compton Street, Eastbourne, Tuesday, August 18, to Saturday, August 29

"I FIND ordinary people put in extraordinary circumstances really interesting. It is exactly what the Second World War was for the vast number of people.”

Penned while he was serving as an RAF tailgunner and wireless operator, Flare Path was the beginning of a run of critical and commercial successes for Brighton’s Terence Rattigan, who had already established a name for himself through the 1936 play French Without Tears.

Now director Justin Audibert is launching an extensive nationwide tour of the wartime story in Eastbourne to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

Despite its period setting Audibert feels the themes of the play are timeless.

“I like plays about life and death,” he says. “Flare Path is as much about the women as the men.

“Sometimes Rattigan looks at a certain social milieu exclusively, but in this play it’s everyone from the upper classes to the working classes and petit bourgeois. There’s a real affection there – it’s exactly what a real bomber crew would be made up of.”

Set in a hotel not far from Bomber Command, Flare Path follows a weekend among a group of airmen and their wives on the eve of an unexpected raid over Germany.

It focuses on a love triangle between West End actress Patricia, her bomber pilot husband Teddy and her one-time lover Hollywood actor Peter who unexpectedly returns to her life.

“Patricia couldn’t marry Peter in the US because his wife wouldn’t want a divorce,” says Audibert.

“She always felt he held a power over her – the difference with Teddy is that she has the balance of power as he idolises her. When Peter comes back and says he has got a divorce and wants her she is in an impossible situation.”

Also playing a role in the story are Polish pilot Count Skriczevinsky and his former barmaid wife Doris, and working class tail gunner Dusty Miller whose wife Maudie has been bombed out during the Blitz.

“Patricia and Peter don’t quite get it,” says Audibert. “They journey through the play in a totally different way. They are cosseted and in the play they suddenly experience real life.

“When Patricia sees a plane go up in flames you can see from her reaction that it is the first time she has had that experience.

“When someone says to Maudie about being bombed out and how it must feel unreal her reaction is that it has happened – and it’s what she is having to do. She doesn’t want to live with her auntie – she doesn’t really like her – but it’s not a tragedy, it’s just what has happened.”

The play was penned and performed in 1942 while the war was still going on – with the conflict’s ending still in doubt.

To capture the atmosphere and society of that time the cast and director have worked with historical expert Tony Green – who guided them on a simulated Wellington Bomber mission – and a movement director who has helped them explore the society of the time.

“People would know each other’s class from how they held a pint of beer, a gin and tonic or pink gin,” says Audibert.

“The gender politics is so different – men would treat women in different ways, protecting them, slightly parading them and sheltering them.

“They were always offering their arm, or standing up when they came into a room. Watching that you get the richness of the world – it’s really fun to recreate.”

Although Rattigan lost some critical favour in the late 1950s and 1960s with the rise of the Angry Young Men post-John Osborne’s Look Back In Anger, the playwright has been gaining ground recently with revivals of The Winslow Boy, The Browning Version and The Deep Blue Sea.

Flare Path itself was revived in 2011 by Trevor Nunn at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, with Sienna Miller in the lead role.

“It’s a really well-made play,” says Audibert. “It resonates with the audience today.

“The way Rattigan writes dialogue is so musical, you know how every line should sound. That is an incredible skill.”

Starts 7.45pm (not Sun/Mon), 2.30pm matinees on Wed and Sat, tickets from £15.50. Call 01323 412000.