While the Sun Shines, Terrence Rattigan’s eighth play, first premièred in 1943 to rave reviews before running for over a thousand performances and was described by leading critic of the day as “delightful, a little masterpiece of tingling impertinence”. The second wartime play revived by Theatre Royal Bath for their summer season, with the renowned director Christopher Luscombe following hot on the heels of Stephen Unwin’s well received rendition of Noel Coward’s Present Laughter, this lighthearted and glamorous double act are not only the perfect kind of entertainment for balmy summer evenings but serve to highlight two of the funniest plays by these titans of British theatre.
Both farcical, While the Sun Shines was first performed the year after Perfect Laughter, and although neither play happens to be the most famous in the repertoire of Rattigan or Coward, these productions go a considerable way to putting them back on the map. Set entirely in the ‘chambers’ or apartment, of the orphaned Earl of Harpenden “Bobby” (Rob Heaps) on the eve of his marriage to Lady Elizabeth Randall (Alexandra Dowling) whom he has known since childhood, things start to go pear-shaped for the couple on Bobby’s butler, Horton (Jonathan Dryden Taylor) discovering that his Lordship has generously shared his bed with an intoxicated American Lieutenant stranger by the name of Joe Mulvaney (Rupert Young).
Rob Heaps as The Earl of Harpenden “Bobby”
While Coward might have steered clear of references to the war, Rattigan’s entire plot glories in the ‘make hay while the sun shines’ Blitz mentality that shook London almost as much as being rained on by bombs; prompting a sharp rise in adulterous affairs, rocketing sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies during the 1940s. Luscombe also plays up to the vast changes to society since this work was written to great comedic effect; for whilst the very suggestion of two men sharing a bed only leads the audience to conclude one thing nowadays (cue fits of giggles and raised eyebrows), in fact both characters are meant to be heterosexual – however difficult this might be to believe when the Earl adopts an hilarious bell-bottomed sailor’s uniform.
Joe is a deal more manly than his host, however, whom he has to thank not only for accommodating him, but for subsequently offering him the use of his apartment whilst he’s on honeymoon, and, as if that wasn’t enough, for proceeding to ring up his mistress Mabel Crum (Tamla Kari) and invite her round to be introduced to the American by way of soothing her disappointment over his forthcoming marriage. Heaps is wonderful at hamming it up and really conveys a sense of the period, while designer Robert Jones has done a fine job of placing us in an aristocratic bachelor pad, filled with the young Earl’s handed-down collection of art and antiquities. Composer Malcolm McKee further enhances the atmosphere with a series of frivolous period-sounding melodies between scenes.
Rupert Young as Lieutenant Mulvaney “Joe” and Alexandra Dowling as Lady Elizabeth Randall
Yet Joe hardly knows what he’s let himself in for by becoming a resident, due to Lady Elizabeth having promised Bobby’s apartment to one of her acquaintances, French Lieutenant Colbert (Nicholas Bishop), whose accent is reminiscent of René in ‘Allo ‘Allo. This naturally makes his attempts at love-making towards her highly amusing and, pleading with her to call off the wedding in favour of waiting until a man who makes her feel ‘white hot passion’ comes along, little does he realise that he is simply lining up the cannon to be fired by the next man she meets.
With Bobby off for a meeting at the naval office the inevitable case of mistaken identity occurs and Joe takes Lady Elizabeth to be the self-proclaimed ‘trollop’ Miss Crum. Dowling is perfectly cast as the uptight bride-to-be who soon gets intoxicated on the whisky Joe plies her with before showing her the meaning of ‘white hot passion’, making us wonder whether she will go ahead with her imminent vows; seemingly founded more on friendship and the size of the groom’s bank balance than anything else. That is certainly what makes her reprobate father, Duke of Ayr and Stirling (Michael Cochrane), encourage the match and Cochrane’s appearance takes what might just have easily been a jolly evening at the theatre to new heights.
Michael Cochrane as The Duke of Ayr and Stirling
That said, the entire cast appeared to be having the time of their lives, something which the audience responded to with increasing peals of laughter come the second half; Lady Elizabeth having called off her wedding to Bobby and all hell having broken loose as a consequence.
Both Colbert and Joe are convinced that they are the reason for her change of heart, while Kari is utterly convincing as the good-time-girl Mabel, resigned to always being second best, yet determined that her maternal charms will get their just reward in the end. After Bobby, Joe and Colbert have fought like schoolboys for Lady Elizabeth’s affections they agree to let the best man win. Who that is I urge you to go along and find out for yourself. Rattigan and Theatre Royal Bath at their best, While the Sun Shines also incorporates some of the script from the 1947 Anthony Asquith film version and is a British romp guaranteed to leave you with a very big grin on your face. A West End transfer is surely just as likely? Although the sun was indeed shining on the evening of the press night, it was camp enough to make you think Christmas had come early.
While the Sun Shines at Theatre Royal Bath until 30th July 2016. Production photography by Tristram Kenton. For more information and tickets please visit the website.
