The Westland Lysander was designed in the mid 1930s in response to an RAF requirement for a new army co-operation aircraft. Although it looked rather ungainly, this high-winged monoplane powered by a Bristol Mercury radial engine had some advanced features for the time, including slats and flaps that deployed and retracted automatically to reduce pilot workload during takeoff and landing. Don’t look at them as lines you have to say. But look at them as thoughts your character has. Try going through your lines with someone responding to you so you can practice your listening skills at the same time. caption id="" align="alignright" width="240"] Sienna Miller, pictured in After Miss Julie, to star in Trevor Nunn's revival of Rattigan's Flare Path[/caption] Trevor Nunn's intense production is faithful, authentic and highly moving. Stephen Brimson Lewis's wood-panelled set is detailed and evocative. The only nod to modern technology is through the overhead projection which allows the audience to witness the night take-offs and the flare path which provides visibility, but also has the dangerous side-effect of attracting hostile aircraft. Teddy's tail gunner Dusty Miller is awaiting his wife Maudie, who is late. Maudie only has a short time off from the laundry where she has had to work since the war began. She was bombed out of their home in the Blitz, but she says matter-of-factly: "...there's a war on, and things have got to be a bit different, and we've just got to get used to it – that's all." [4]

That said, the trio of airmen played by Philip Franks (Squadron Leader Swanson), Alastair Whatley (Teddy Graham), Simon Darwen (Dusty Miller) were terrific and gave their roles the believability that Rattigan demands as did Olivia Hallinan as Teddy’s conflicted wife Patricia Warren. No. 357 Squadron RAF supported covert operations in South East Asia during the latter stages of the war, flying Lysanders as well as other types. I'm a big fan of Harold Pinter's work, I’d love to do either of the men in The Dumb Waiter,Ashton in The Caretakeror Lenny in the Homecoming. In an initiative pioneered by the theatre’s producers, Arnold M. Crook and Nigel Everett, the newly created Theatre Royal Haymarket Company presented their first season of work in 2007/08 under the direction of Jonathan Kent. The season comprised The Country Wife, The Sea and Marguerite. This was followed by Waiting for Godot and Breakfast at Tiffany’s directed by Sean Mathias, Artistic Director of the Theatre Royal Haymarket Company in 2009. Now Trevor Nunn will direct a season of work throughout 2011. tempted to nod off in parts...the pace limps along like a battle-battered Wellington bomber flying on one engine."Airmen from a nearby bomber base are enjoying a brief weekend with their wives at the Falcon Hotel, but their leave is interrupted when they have to go on an unscheduled mission. The knowledge that Rattigan’s own lover had just left him before Flare Path opened gives the triangle an added interest. SSC Director, Malcolm Toll, once asked me to learn to juggle for his production of King Lear. I was hopeless, and after he saw my attempt it was cut. Whilst being a professional actor the majority of the auditions I got was based on me being able to play the piano so we’ll go with that one instead! Patricia and Peter had a love affair before she met Teddy, but she left because Peter was not free to marry her. Patricia married Teddy after a "whirlwind wartime romance" while he was on a week's leave. She does not know her husband very well, and she was still in love with Peter when they wed. She reconnected with Peter in London and now plans to tell Teddy she is leaving him, but she is annoyed by Peter's unexpected arrival at the hotel. Peter tells her that his career is waning as he gets older and that he needs her.

Yes - I trained at the Manchester Metropolitan School of Theatre graduating with a BA (Hons) in Acting. Whilst home-grown talent such as Terence Rattigan deserve the incredible attention that his centenary is garnering this year (last year's After the Dance, this year's Cause Celebre and Flare Path to name but three), we would have liked to see something major in London to mark the occasion of Tennessee's birth. Flare Path, the first play of Sir Trevor Nunn's tenure at the Haymarket Theatre, will rouse its audience as well as reminding them of the bravery of a group of pilots who kept our grandparents safe. As such, the theatre's 900 seats are likely to be filled every night of the run. Williams may be constantly revived in the UK, the Donmar's 2009 production of A Streetcar Named Desire starring Rachel Weisz being a good recent example, but his extraordinary influence on world theatre, and especially British theatre, deserves some recognition around his actual centenary. Bennett, Ray, " Flare Path: Theater Review", The Hollywood Reporter, 14 March 2011. Retrieved 2011-03-14.Doris waits for her husband Count Skriczevinsky, a Polish pilot serving with the RAF. His wife and son were killed by the Nazis, and he came to Britain, despite his poor command of the English language, to join the war against Germany. Doris met him while working as a barmaid, and though she is now his Countess, she worries about what will happen when the war is over and he is able to return to Poland. caption id="attachment_9181" align="alignright" width="240"] Flare Path at the Theatre Royal Haymarket[/caption] Flare Path was first performed in the West End at the Apollo Theatre in 1942. It is based on Rattigan’s own Bomber Command experiences when he served as a tail gunner during the Second World War. He later reworked Flare Path into a screenplay and in 1945 the re-titled The Way to the Stars starring Michael Redgrave was successfully released.