Books like The Deep Blue Sea

"A great tidal wave of illogical emotions." The opening scene of this play is a failed suicide bid by a woman, who is found by her neighbours when they notice the smell of leaking gas on their way to work. The irony being she could not complete the task because the gas meter was not fed the necessary shilling to operate properly. Remember, this is set in 1952 when so many utilities were still coin fed.The play takes place over the course of one day, in the sitting room of a flat in London.The flat is Hester Collyer's, and through the course of the play we find out what led to this event. Which as it turns out could be considered minor by some. But it's always the little things that niggle the most.MRS ELTON (angrily): "Whatever possessed you to do a dreadful thing like that?"HESTER (lying back with her eyes closed): "The devil I suppose...when you're between any kind of devil and the deep blue sea, the deep blue sea sometimes looks very inviting. It did last night."Hester has left her husband for another. Was it a good move? As she laments ironically to her (still legally wed) husband, her lover's feelings for her haven't changed one bit...they remain "Zero minus zero is still zero." In fact her lover, Freddie, is an immature, selfish brat of a man. Yet Hester loves him. Hester is all fluid emotions, they are what drive her, even when logic says things should be otherwise.FREDDIE: "My God, how I hate getting tangled up in other people's emotions."This is such an emotionally complex play. Love where both parties are not equally committed or even remotely interested. One partner driven to drink, the other to suicide. It is beautifully written with a subtle dark humour and underlying pathos that is unmistakably raw in its emotion.To provide some background to Terrence Rattigan and this play, the forward advises that Terrence Rattigan described this as being "the hardest of my plays to write..." As the "...struggles were not purely literary...The Deep Blue Sea is, in many ways, his most personal work."Terrence Rattigan was a homosexual in a time when it was still outlawed, and men (and women) were unable to live openly as gay. All reference to any hint of homosexuality in the arts, such as plays, were unable to be performed. It simply would not pass by the Lord Chamberlain's Office (the fun police), who used to censor British Theatre. Owners of venues and writers themselves could be prosecuted for allowing performances of "offensive works" to be staged (which brings to mind a favourite of mine, Joe Orton, but that's a whole different discussion).Rattigan had a relationship with a young actor, Kenneth Morgan. They fell in love, yet it was a tempestuous relationship with numerous separations. Rattigan refused to break with another (more affluent) lover. This upset Morgan greatly, who in turn left Rattigan for another. Rattigan was convinced that he would return, but instead, sadly, Morgan took his own life. That tragic event is the "inspiration" for this play. What an inspiration. How the artistic mind works. Life truly is stranger than fiction. Having said that, this is a truly powerful play. With themes which are just as valid today as when the play was written.I'm going to see this performed on stage next weekend with the glorious Marta Dusseldorp playing the role of Hester Collyer. It will be another amazing STC production. I cannot wait. https://www.sydneytheatre.com.au/what...\ Postcript: \ The performance by the STC was just sublime. It really brought home the complexity of human relationships and unrequited love. What complicated creatures we are. Again, amazing to think that a play that was written in 1953 is still so utterly relevant today.