Reviews

Deep Blue Sea by Terence Rattigan

alysian_fields's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

3.25

orestesfasting's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Always leaves me shocked that Rattigan wrote such scathing, radical, aching analyses of the problems in middle class society and was then reviled as a figure of the establishment, a label which must have surprised him. This play wrings your heart out, and is also as much an engagement with a preceding theatrical tradition as Look Back in Anger et al would be. A three act structure that notably refuses the suicide at the end lays out a vision of hope beyond social constraints, all the more radical by the fact that it is presented by the play’s only gay character. But the structural question emerges much earlier - it’s a play that opens, not closes, with suicide, and asks us to consider it not as a dramatic climax but as a beginning whose consequences are to be explored. It doesn’t accept queerness (or otherness, or however you want to frame the play) as tragically incompatible in absolute terms, but rejects that theatrical convention in favour of its queer (or othered) characters. And it’s agonising!! 

paulataua's review against another edition

5.0

It starts with a woman having failed in her attempt at suicide when the gas ran out, something that did happen in England in the 1950s when gas and electricity were coin operated. What follows is a tight drama about relationships and the problem of what happens when one partner is unable to give to the relationship what is required by the other. Rattigan wrote it following the suicide of his lover, Kenny Morgan, after their break-up. I just found it so powerful all the way to its enigmatic and thought provoking conclusion.

midnightime23's review against another edition

sad

5.0

not_mike's review against another edition

3.0

Play.

National theatre production

hpuphd's review against another edition

4.0

A thoughtful, intriguing play from 1952 about struggles between our needs for receiving and giving love. Rattigan (1911-77) was a closeted gay playwright whose work is now getting a renewed appreciation. The premise for this one is based on the suicide of an actor close to Rattigan. He changed the couple to a man and woman, made the suicide attempt (which opens the play) unsuccessful, and created a frighteningly honest character in Hester Collyer. (Rattigan in real life would correspond to the Freddy Page character.) The play hints that the doctor, who seems the least sentimental and most life-affirming character, was struck off the medical rolls because he was gay. A beautifully constructed play in the well-made play tradition.

lady_orpheus's review against another edition

5.0

I didn't know who was Rattigan nor had I ever heard about his work before watching the film adaptation of this play ,starring Rachel Weisz (incredible actress!).
I am still blown away by its subtlety and complexity. It is a play where even complexity is repressed, which is just brillant, and I appreciate that it is neither melodramatic or over-written. I love it because even if the subject has been written about for centuries, it still manages to ring so completely honest and true it makes your stomach tie in knots a little bit.

A beautiful piece of work! The Winslow Boy is next on my reading list.

emmajkswain's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

jasfuller's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

13alexandra13's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0