PREVIEW: The Sacred Flame at the Theatre Royal Brighton

A taut and elegant play that explores the boundaries of honour, forgiveness and the sacred flame of love.
By The Newsroom
Published 22nd Oct 2012, 12:00 BST

That is how The Sacred Flame, by W. Somerset Maugham, has been described.

English Touring Theatre’s production of this classic murder mystery with a twist comes to the Theatre Royal Brighton on Tuesday, October 30, for a five-night run, as part of its UK tour.

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World War One hero Maurice Tabret is disabled after a flying accident, tended lovingly by his mother, his beautiful wife Stella, and the devoted Nurse Wayland.

When he dies from an overdose during the night, and it is revealed that Stella is in love with Maurice’s brother Colin and is expecting a baby, questions begin to be raised as to whether it was murder or suicide.

W. Somerset Maugham’s many works include the celebrated plays The Circle, The Letter and The Constant Wife, the novels Of Human Bondage, and The Razor’s Edge, and film adaptations including Rain and The Painted Veil.

Directed by Matthew Dunster (Mogadishu Royal Exchange, Manchester; Love The Sinner, National Theatre and Doctor Faustus, Shakespeare’s Globe), design is by Anna Fleischle, lighting by Lee Curran and sound by Emma Laxton.