About the Show

Tamsin Greig stars in Terence Rattigan’s 1950s portrait of passion, loss, and emotional survival.

Set in post-war Britain, The Deep Blue Sea follows Hester Collyer, a judge’s wife who has left behind her comfortable, respectable life for an affair with Freddie Page, a younger ex-RAF pilot. Now isolated, emotionally adrift, and living in a dreary boarding house, Hester finds herself at the edge of despair. Terence Rattigan’s 1952 play is a powerful exploration of desire, vulnerability, and the cost of loving someone who cannot love you back.

Olivier Award-winner Tamsin Greig (Friday Night Dinner) leads the cast in this new production directed by Lindsay Posner (A View From the Bridge). Greig is joined by a cast of acclaimed stage and screen performers, including Hadley Fraser, Selina Cadell, Nicholas Farrell, Tony nominee Finbar Lynch, Preston Nyman, and Lisa Ambalavanar.

Originally presented at Theatre Royal Bath, this revival now plays at the Theatre Royal Haymarket for a limited West End run.

Critic Reviews (9)

"Tamsin Greig's woman without hope is quietly devastating"
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"Tamsin Greig is shatteringly good in Terence Rattigan’s 1952 tragedy of quiet desperation."
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“She can turn on a sixpence between mad laughter and crumpled hysteria. She weeps and pleads in chilling, lonely desperation at Freddie’s resolution to break with her"
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“You could hear a pin drop in the auditorium throughout. It’s a terrific production that reveals the extraordinary power in this slightly old-fashioned play that has outlasted many more modish works.”
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“Tamsin Greig is grounded and nuanced”
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“Greig, as ever, is second-to-none in her ability to communicate a soul in torment. As she rolls the phrase ‘angry Cupid’ around in her mouth, shifting along the way from laughter to tears"
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“It all does the job – all gets out of the way of the play, and maybe that’s the best thing. Let the play speak for itself.”
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“Lindsay Posner’s thoughtful production doesn’t always maximise the intimacy, yet Rattigan’s play clasps you by the wrist and holds on tight.”
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