Comedy, romance, tragedy and horror – on a stage near you next week
Last updated 09:20, Friday, 10 October 2008
Penrith Players turn their hand to Terence Rattigan’s moral dilemma The Deep Blue Sea for their next production, which runs from Wednesday to Saturday next week.
Last performed by Penrith Players in the 1954/55 season, The Deep Blue Sea has recently seen revivals in local and national theatre productions, including a triumphant show in London’s West End starring Greta Scacchi.
The story line is less about action than the tensions and relationships between the characters.
A day of reckoning has befallen the tenants of a post-war London flat.
From the opening scene the audience is confronted by potential tragedy and soon becomes involved with the dilemma facing central character Hester – that of “the devil and the deep blue sea”.
Set in 1950, it is a powerful drama of passion versus loyalty. Hester, the wife of a judge, is staring into the abyss having been embroiled in a hopeless 10-month affair with a younger man, Freddie Page.
Struggling to come to terms with civilian life after serving as a fighter pilot during the war, Freddie has turned ever more to drink. However, Hester’s husband, William, is not willing to give her up without a fight.
Director Jenny Wilson, who has been involved with Penrith Players since the mid-1960s, says: “Having enjoyed our recent production of Rattigan’s Separate Tables and being involved with a school production of The Winslow Boy many years ago, I approached this Rattigan play completely fresh – I had seen it before on stage or the screen.
“I hope audiences will enjoy the play as much as I have.”
She says the production offers a glimpse of society in the 1950s which is very different to our own today: “Today’s social and moral values have altered a lot, but audiences will be able to relate to having to make decisions where relationships are concerned.”
See The Deep Blue Sea at Penrith Playhouse, in Auction Mart Lane, Penrith.
Tickets are available from Penrith TIC. Call 01768 867466.
n Wigton Theatre Club perform the claustrophobic ghost story The Exorcism (which also also has much to say about society’s obsession with money and affluence – very topical), directed by Liz Chapman, at the town’s John Peel Theatre from Tuesday to Saturday next week. All shows start at 7.30pm. Tickets from Station Road Garage. Call 016973 49244.
n Carlisle Green Room Club stage an uplifting farce called, The Play's The Thing, written by Ferenc Molnár, adapted by PG Wodehouse and directed by John Metcalfe, at West Walls Theatre, Carlisle, from Monday to Saturday, all at 7.30pm.
Tickets £7/£6 from Carlisle TIC. Call 01228 625600.
