Trevor Nunn directed Sienna Miller, James Purefoy, and Sheridan Smith in Terence Rattigan’s Flare Path - his first production as Artistic Director of the Theatre Royal Haymarket Company.
It is 1942. At the Falcon Hotel, on the Lincolnshire coast, Teddy a young RAF bomber pilot celebrates a reunion with his actress wife Patricia. They are thrown into upheaval when Peter, Patricia’s ex lover and Hollywood heartthrob arrives and an urgent bombing mission over Germany is ordered. Who will make the sacrifice during the long night, as Patricia finds herself at the centre of an emotional conflict as unpredictable as the war in the skies. Flare Path is a story of love and loyalty, courage and fear.
Flare Path is based on Rattigan’s own experiences as a tail gunner in the RAF during the Second World War. He later reworked the play into a screenplay, and in 1954 the re-titled The Way to the Stars starring Michael Redgrave was released.