Terence Rattigan’s wartime play draws on his experiences as a tail gunner thereby allowing him to recreate the fears of the aircrews and the lonely waiting of their loved ones.

And once again it demonstrates his superb craftsmanship as he weaves a love triangle story into a night time mission of a bomber command aircrew.

He is a master of character construction and emotional unravelling.

His service in the RAF introduced him to the slang it developed. He uses it to successfully capture the schoolboys lingering inside these young men.

The play is staged well with realistic aircraft sound effects and the director, Justin Audibert, recreates the period beautifully but wisely steers his actors away from the clipped tones of the time.

There are no weaknesses in this cast with Hedydd Dylan, Lynden Edwards and Daniel Fraser giving strong performances as the three love protagonists.

It falls to Claire Andreadis to provide the comedy as a yokel barmaid turned Polish countess while Polly Hughes gives an interesting study of a working class wife accepting major changes in her life as a matter of duty.

Certainly a favourite with the audience is Audrey Palmer as the starchy hotel proprietor.

Four stars