While The Sun Shines - Orange Tree Theatre

After a hiatus the Terence Rattigan revival returns with a production of this farcical comedy that was a big hit for Rattigan back in 1943 - it was one of three plays he had running simultaneously in the West End, the other two being Flare Path and Love in Idleness. As it's Rattigan one can be sure it's a well made play and it is, every little fragment of information planted in the first act bearing fruit in the second and third, but it's pretty lightweight stuff and, over all, strains to justify its two and a half hour length. 

The farcical element is, naturally enough, the plot, featuring three military men - Englishman, Frenchman and American: it's wartime, after all - proclaiming their love for the same guileless young woman while the bride-to-be's conniving father and an older, wiser lady of questionable virtue stand by to collect what they can and generally add to the complications.  It's often very funny with some brilliant Rattigan-esque set pieces, especially in the latter two acts.  But, it must be said, the first act with its exposition and its setup scenes is a bit of a chore.

Still, the usual fine cast - with one exception - from the Orange Tree and an absolute star turn from the always wonderful Dorothea Meyer-Bennett as Mabel, the "other" woman, stealing every scene she's in.  You have to wait for her - she doesn't appear until act two, which may be the real problem with act one.   

With a qualm or two, recommended.