IN PRAISE OF LOVE
- Kathleen Bondar
- Jun 14
- 3 min read
BY TERENCE RATTIGAN
DIRECTOR: AMELIA SEARS
CAST: DANIEL ABELSON (MARK WALTERS), JOE EDGAR (JOEY CRUTTWELL), CLAIRE PRICE (LYDIA CRUTTWELL) AND DOMINIC ROWAN (SEBASTIAN CRUTTWELL)
THE ORANGE TREE THEATRE
1 CLARENCE STREET, RICHMOND, SURREY TW9 2SA
24 MAY – 5 JULY 2025
REVIEW by KATHLEEN BONDAR
Terence Rattigan was a prolific dramatist and screenwriter during the fifties and sixties in Britain. His numerous works included blockbuster movies such as The Prince and The Showgirl (1957) with Marilyn Monroe & Laurence Olivier, and plays adapted to screen including The Winslow Boy (1948) and The Browning Version (1951). His career prime was during the 1950s. Coming from an upper-class background, and middle aged by this time, his oeuvre jarred with the emerging, young, New Wave playwrights whose popular “Kitchen Sink” dramas were concerned with working class, provincial lives. John Osborne’s “Angry Young Man” in Look Back in Anger (1959), Joe Orton’s murderous nurse in Loot (1965) and Shelagh Delaney’s unmarried, pregnant mother with gay friend in A Taste of Honey (1958) were a departure from Rattigan’s formal approach.
Left: Claire Price; Middle: Dominic Rowan; Right: Joe Edgar. Photos: Ellie Kurttz
So, it’s something to find Rattigan championed by director Amelia Sears at The Orange Tree Theatre after fading in popularity. Subject, themes and props certainly point to a more traditional form of theatre.
The stage is set in a living room with slouchy armchairs and “vintage” props, including a plugged in telephone, a black and white television and a typewriter tapping off stage. The props are a reminder of things past - nothing instant, except for coffee.
Rattigan is concerned about the nuances of his characters’ emotional and personal lives, and how appearances can be deceptive. In fact, Rattigan was inspired by a similar situation between his good friends the actors Kay Kendal and her husband Rex Harrison, which he explores in the play.
The play centres on radical, public-school-educated writer Sebastian Crutwell (Dominc Rowan) and his emigre wife, Lydia (Claire Price). Both come with a WWII track record in espionage and resistance. Now they live an urban life in the progressive London Borough of Islington circa the 1960s. Sebastian still harps after his communist dream whilst Lydia manages him, the house and the drinks trolley.
For contemporary audiences, the play is a historical dive. Rattigan experienced the war, and it’s post years. Indeed, In Praise of Love offers a revision in some WWII and Cold War history and a reminder of the struggles experienced by those generations.
The hook of the play, however, is an open lie. As they host their mutual longtime friend Mark (Daniel Abelson) and a visit from their only son Joey (Joe Edgar), it turns out the marrieds have something to hide from each other. Namely, Lydia has a terminal illness. She’s hiding the diagnosis from Sebastian; he’s hiding the fact he knows it from Lydia.
Rattigan’s characters are carefully structured. Mark and Joey are a sounding board for the lead characters. Mark is in love with Lydia which permits her to haemorrhage her emotions (which are all about Sebastian). And, Joey acts as an opposite to his father, standing as a middle-of the-road Liberal Candidate, so Sebastian can deride his wishy-washy politics (a note to "Angry Young Men" that older people were radical too) .
Gender roles are firmly set in In Praise of Love, as they would have been at the time. It’s astonishing to witness Lydia happily filling Sebastian’s tumbler as he wittily bombasts her. Despite her imminent demise, Lydia is more concerned about Sebastian’s welfare after her death, rather than her own suffering. She is the sacrificing wife, willing to nurture her husband’s affair with a secretary so he can be looked after when she is done and dusted.
Accepting this context, it’s still possible to appreciate how Rattigan kneads into family disputes and marital struggles. Rattigan gives Lydia more scope than martyrdom and she definitely gets her spotlight in the final scene; Sebastian’s love overrides chauvinism which turns out to be more camouflage. And there are father/son difficulties which resonate regardless of time. The cast translate these hefty emotions with skill and passion. It's certainly worth revisiting In Praise of Love (1973). It was Rattigan’s penultimate play which showcases a playwright who knew his craft.
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