I’ve been a fan of Tamsin Greig ever since the first episode of the criminally underrated Episodes, so I’d have been quite happy just watching her sit on stage—like Sigourney Weaver in that recent disaster of The Tempest. Luckily for all of us, Greig didn’t just sit. She took on some heavy material in The Deep Blue Sea and delivered it without theatrics or showy breakdowns—just pure pain and flashes of quiet fury.
The play centres on a desperate housewife who’s left her safe but loveless marriage for a younger ex-RAF pilot. When the new relationship starts to fall apart, she finds herself alone and questioning everything. Over the course of one day, we watch her navigate emotional ruin, surrounded by a motley crew of half-broken neighbours.
Terence Rattigan’s play transports the audience to post-war London—still bruised, still off balance, filled with people quietly trying to rebuild their lives. Greig leads a cast that forcefully brings Rattigan’s world to life, from the old-school judge to the mysterious stranger who’s absolutely, definitely not a doctor.
In the end, it’s a story about what’s left when everything else—romance, pride, identity—has fallen apart. And whether that’s enough to keep you going.
👍👍
The Deep Blue Sea
Theatre Royal Haymarket, London
Written by Terence Rattigan
Directed by Lindsay Posner
Cast: Tamsin Greig, Finbar Lynch, Selina Cadell, Nicholas Farrell, Hadley Fraser, Preston Nyman, Lisa Ambalavanar
Elia Kabanov is a science writer covering the past, present and future of technology (@metkere).
Illustration by Elia Kabanov feat. DALL-E.
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