Local Tipperary drama group set to stage performance of iconic play

Thurles Drama Group will present The Deep Blue Sea by Terence Rattigan in The Source Arts Centre from Monday November 17, to Saturday, November 22.

The Deep Blue Sea (1952) is a deeply moving exploration of love, despair, and the human longing for connection.

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Set in post-war Britain, the play focuses on Hester Collyer, a woman who leaves her respectable husband, Sir William Collyer, for a passionate but destructive affair with a younger man, Freddie Page, a former RAF pilot.

When the play opens, Hester has just attempted suicide, and is lying alone on the stage, an event that sets the tone for the emotional intensity and quiet tragedy that follows.

The Deep Blue Sea is set in a modest London flat in the 1950s and follows Hester Collyer, a woman caught between passion and despair.

Having left her respectable husband, Sir William Collyer, for her lover Freddie Page, a former RAF pilot, Hester finds herself emotionally unfulfilled.

Their relationship, once passionate, has deteriorated into resentment and disillusionment.

Freddie, restless and immature, decides to leave Hester, while Sir William offers her forgiveness and a chance to return to her old life.

Hester refuses both security and despair, choosing instead to face life alone.

Guided by the quiet compassion of her neighbour Mr Miller, she regains a fragile sense of hope.

The play ends with Hester embracing survival and the painful courage to continue living.

This opening sets up the audience with a series of powerful questions, why is Hester in this situation?

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Who is she and is she the victim of a terrible set of events culminating in this near tragedy or is she the perpetrator of some wicked plot that has failed and left her with only one option?

Is this attempted suicide the result of depression and emotional breakdown brought on by unrequited love and rejection, marital unhappiness or both?

Rattigan presents all these possibilities with this stark opening and proceeds to develop the plot in a very English style marked by restraint and understatement, typical of his “well-made play” style, but beneath the surface lies immense emotional turbulence.

Rattigan’s subtle craftsmanship makes The Deep Blue Sea a timeless work.

Its themes, unrequited love, depression, the search for meaning, resonate just as strongly today as in post war England.

While less flamboyant than some of his contemporaries, Rattigan’s restraint is his strength: he reveals that heartbreak often unfolds not in grand gestures, but in silences, half-finished sentences, and the unbearable quiet after an emotional storm.

The play is directed by Liam Ryan, well known to our audiences especially for previous excellent work on period dramas who loves these slowly unfolding tales of human love and longing.

Liam has also put together an excellent cast for the play;
Hester Collyer – Aileen O’Sullivan;
Mrs Elton – Mary Condron;
Philip Welch – Pat Nolan;
Ann Welch – Patricia Kenny;
Mr. miller – Paul Flanagan;
William Collyer – Pat O’Sullivan;
Freddie Page – Pat Loughnane[;
Jackie Jackson – Donal Ryan.

More on the cast and the opening benefit night, Monday November 17, next week.

In the meantime, book your seat for this beautifully written English play from a master craftsman.