Terence Rattigan’s play, which opened in December 1942, is based on his experience during World War 2 when he served as in air gunner in the RAF. He caught the mood of the moment so perfectly the play ran for 670 performances. Winston Churchill described it as a masterpiece of understatement, something the British have always been good at, especially in wartime.
Flare Path, a tribute to bomber command, is a propaganda piece and has to be understood within the context of the war and the nation needing entertainment which boosted morale, hence the upbeat note at the end. Rattigan would go on to writer the screenplay for one of the best British war films, The Way to the Stars, equally notable and effective in its understatement.
The main story-line is a triangle: an actress (Sienna Miller) has to choose whether to stay with her husband, a young bomber pilot (Harry Hadden-Paton), who has lost his nerve, or to leave him for her ex-lover (James Purefoy), an ageing Hollywood actor, whose career is on the skids. The knowledge that Rattigan’s own lover had just left him before the play opened gives the role of the actor an additional interest.
Trevor Nunn’s production, which is strongly recommended, gets the period and tone absolutely right. A memorable moment is provided by the sound effects and the filmed projection of the bombers flying over the hotel on their way to Germany. The cast is an excellent ensemble and there is a wonderfully funny and deeply poignant performance by Sheridan Smith as a barmaid, who has married a Polish count and waits, chin bravely up, for his return.
It might now be a good moment to revive Rattigan’s wartime farce, While the Sun Shines, as an antidote; it ran for over a thousand performances.