Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Entertainment
Nick Curtis

The Deep Blue Sea at Theatre Royal Haymarket review: Tamsin Greig is shatteringly good

Tamsin Greig is shatteringly good in Terence Rattigan’s 1952 tragedy of quiet desperation. She plays Hester Collyer, a clergyman’s daughter who left her eminent lawyer husband for a raffish ex-RAF pilot who has turned to drink and delusion in peacetime. Hester is first seen unconscious after trying to gas herself in their rented rooms in shabby, post-war Ladbroke Grove, failing only because she forgot – or couldn’t afford – to put a shilling in the meter.

Though Hester’s story is the epicentre of sadness, Lindsay Posner’s finely-wrought revival also shows us the wreckage of the husband, Bill (Nicholas Farrell) and the neglectful lover, Freddie (Hadley Fraser). It evokes the humanity of her landlady and fellow-tenants, particularly Finbar Lynch as the doctor, Karl Miller - struck off for some unforgiveable act of misconduct - who tells Hester that life is possible even after hope.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.