The Deep Blue Sea

The Deep Blue Sea by British dramatist Terence Rattigan (1911-1977)[1].

Not to be confused with John Patrick Shanley's Danny and the Deep Blue Sea

The original text

Said to have been inspired by the suicide of a young actor whom Rattigan had loved, the play transposes the tragic theme to the heterosexual relationship between Hester and Freddie.

First performed in London on 6 March 1952, directed by Frith Banbury, with Peggy Ashcroft and Kenneth More. Performed in the USA at the Plymouth Theater in October 1952.

Translations and adaptations

Translated into Afrikaans and entitled Die Ander Vuur ("The other fire") by an unnamed author.

Numerous TV and film adaptations of the play have been made over the years (see for example the Wikipedia entry on the play[2]).

Performance history in South Africa

1955: First staged in South Africa at the Brooke Theatre Johannesburg on 13 September, directed by Michael Finlayson, with Brian Brooke and British film actress Jean Kent. After a run of three weeks in Cape Town the production moved to Port Elizabeth where Petrina Fry took over Kent's role.

1957: Presented by East London Technical College Drama Club at the John Bisseker Hall, produced by Joan Brokenshaw.

1968: An Afrikaans translation, called Die Ander Vuur was staged by the Libertas Teaterklub in the H.B. Thom Theatre in Stellenbosch, opening on 26 April. Directed by Marie van Heerden, with Madeleine Heyns (Hester), Annette Muller (Mev. Elton), Herman Pretorius (Philip), Evonne Maritz (Ann), Van Zyl Slabbert (Mnr. Miller), Gerhard Roux (Sir William), Rocky Gagiano (Freddie Page) and Frikkie Engels (Jackie). Decór by Elaine Aucamp and Emile Aucamp, lighting by Emile Aucamp and piano played by Roucher du Toit.

1977: Produced at the Baxter Theatre by Toerien-Firth Company in 1977. Directed by Joan Kemp-Welch. The cast: Helen Cherry, Joyce Bradley, Brian Darnley, Elizabeth Rae, Peter van Dissel, Patrick Holt, James Faulkner, Norman Anstey.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Deep_Blue_Sea_(play)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Deep_Blue_Sea_(2011_film)

Brian Barrow and Yvonne Williams-Short (eds.). 1988. Theatre Alive! The Baxter Story 1977-1987. Cape Town: The Baxter Theatre

Brian Brooke 1978. My Own Personal Star: An Autobiography. Johannesburg: The Limelight Press: pp. 228-9, 257.

Percy Tucker 1997. Just the Ticket. My 50 Years in Show Business. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press: pp. 80, 349.

Libertas Teaterklub theatre programme 1968.

Listing of productions in the UTS programme for Arms and the Man, H.B. Thom Theatre, Stellenbosch, 1968 (held in ESAT Archive)

Arts Theatre Club archive held by George Mountjoy.

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