'Flare Path' at the Theatre Royal Haymarket

On Tuesday night (an auspicious evening) we went to see Terence Rattigan's 'Flare Path' from 1942 when Britain was alone in the war against Nazi Germany and relied on its air-force. The play and production is very early 1940s in style, directed by Trevor Nunn at the rather posh and swanky Theatre Royal Haymarket. From the audience around us I have no trouble imagining that some of the audience saw this play when it was first performed... (and possibly flew the aeroplanes mentioned).

The play stars Sienna Miller as the romantic actress heroine and James Purefoy as the Hollywood actor hero - except he was off that night with the sniffles so we had Jim Creighton who gave a really credible performance in the role. The star turn for me was Sheridan Smith as the Countess, a sort of Gracie Fields barmaid-made-good, the tart with a heart, who acted everyone else off the stage. Just slow down on the patter Sheridan, sometimes it's difficult to follow what you're saying since you speak so fast and fling in lots of 'ducks' and 'dearies'.

The play is clearly of its time, with the horrors and tensions of war ever-present, over-laid with a few love stories and class prejudices, but it was thoroughly engrossing. It's quite a long play but I got lost in the story-telling as it evolved and the relationships developed so I didn't notice time passing - I just wanted to know what happens next.

The set was based around the foyer of a hotel near an aerodrome over the space of two days so there weren't many physical changes, but the lighting was excellent at showing us the movement of time and enhancing the atmosphere. When the British bombers take off they're projected on the walls above the set, a nice effect.

The whole play is a song of praise to the air force, those heroes in the dark days of the war when the threat of invasion was very real and all that stood against the Nazis was our brave boys in the sky. So much a song of praise that the actress who has an affair with a famous Hollywood star ends the affair to stay with her brave husband after he breaks down and admits his fear of flying. In hindsight, the jingoism is a bit uncomfortable in places but during the play I didn't give it a second thought. The only thing that didn't work for me was the final scene when the Polish airman appears after being thought to have died in a raid and we have an uncomfortably long scene that could've come out of ''Allo 'Allo' trying to translate the Pole's broken English - that's been done to death on shows like 'The Two Ronnies' and ''Allo 'Allo' that it seems very dated now, but may have been original back in 1942.

All in all, it's a good evening out with some great performances that kept me tied to the story. Sheridan Smith gave, as ever, a solid and believable performance - always good value for money is our Sheridan (I saw her cry in 'Little Shop of Horrors' a few years ago, y'know). Go and see it.