Terence Rattigan’s play In Praise of Love is at the Orange Tree Theatre (from 24th May to 5th July 2025).
This is a rare chance to see a haunting and provocative play by one of the twentieth century’s most popular playwrights.
Starring Daniel Abelson (Amsterdam – OT), Joe Edgar (Just For One Day – Old Vic), Claire Price (Poison – OT, King Lear – Duke of York’s Theatre) and Dominic Rowan (The Invention of Love – Hampstead Theatre).
Read our interview with Claire Price
What initially drew you to In Praise of Love and specifically to the role of Lydia? This play is known for its emotional depth and complexity. Was there a particular moment or aspect of Lydia that made you say yes?
I’ve always hoped I might get to work on a Rattigan play. I didn’t know ‘In Praise of Love’ – it’s exciting to discover a new play by a writer you admire. Lydia is a fascinating character and so far from me! An Estonian refugee and survivor of horrors in WW2. I was daunted but couldn’t possibly say no. There were so many moments in the play that drew me in, but her last moment in particular, sealed the deal. I won’t give anything away but it touched me very much.
The play explores how people who love each other often conceal painful truths. How did you approach embodying a character with such layered emotional secrecy? And how does that resonate with you personally or as an actor?
We worked through each of the deceptions in rehearsal, so that we knew what plates the characters were spinning and when. But I think we’ve found in performance that Lydia is such a talented liar (or ‘optimist’ as she describes it!) that she invests completely in the false narrative in the moment. So I play each lie as if it’s truth. Then I get to turn it on its head and that’s exciting.
Rattigan loosely based In Praise of Love on the real-life relationship between Rex Harrison and Kay Kendall. Did knowing that influence your preparation or perspective on the role?
I already knew about Rex Harrison’s marriage to Kay Kendall and how he kept her illness from her. My parents were actors, and my father worked with Rex Harrison in the West End, quite a few years after Kendall had died. One afternoon, Harrison told my dad about Kendall and cried, remembering that time. My father was very moved by that, and the story stayed with me – but I didn’t know Rattigan had written a play inspired by it.
You’ve played a wide range of characters on stage and screen, from The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel to RSC’s Measure for Measure. How does Lydia compare to some of your past roles in terms of emotional or psychological challenge?
I don’t think I’ve ever played anyone quite like this! Again, not wanting to give too much away, there’s a responsibility in playing someone who has been through what she has. And all with an Estonian accent! Working in an accent is interesting to me because it’s not just tacking different sounds onto my own English mindset – it’s a whole different perspective.
This production marks a return to the Orange Tree Theatre for you. What is it about that space, or this creative team, that made it the right setting for such an intimate and emotionally charged play?
There’s nowhere quite like the OT – the intimacy of the space (the action takes place in a living room and the audience is literally in the room with us), but also that the audience are on all sides, so even our backs have to tell the story! It’s liberating to be able to just talk to your fellow actor, and I hope it’s like an immersive experience for our audience.
Beyond this play, looking back on your career, are there any roles or productions that you feel especially proud of or that significantly shaped your journey as an actor? And is there a dream role still on your list?
My role as Agnes in ‘Brand’ in the West End taught me a lot – such an emotional part, but when I committed to it fully, I would leave the stage energised. And then Petruchia, in a gender flipped ‘Taming of the Shrew’ at the RSC. It was tremendous to say lines written for a man as a woman, and to think out loud to the audience the way Shakespeare’s male characters so often get to.
*****
Honesty between people who love each other is the thing that matters least in this life.
England, 1973. Estonian refugee Lydia and her Marxist literary critic husband Sebastian both worked in wartime intelligence. They excel at keeping secrets – from friends, from each other, and even from themselves. But their world is crumbling.
The arrival of Lydia’s admirer, a best-selling American author, sparks their complex deceptions into an explosion of family truths.
A perceptive and deeply moving drama, In Praise of Love is Rattigan’s penultimate play, and loosely based on the relationship between the actor Rex Harrison and his wife Kay Kendall.
Orange Tree audiences loved Terence Rattigan’s French Without Tears and While the Sun Shines. This is a rare chance to see a haunting and provocative play by one of the twentieth century’s most popular playwrights.
Starring Daniel Abelson (Amsterdam – OT), Joe Edgar (Just For One Day – Old Vic), Claire Price (Poison – OT, King Lear – Duke of York’s Theatre) and Dominic Rowan (The Invention of Love – Hampstead Theatre).
In Praise of Love
24 May 2025 to 5 July 2025
https://orangetreetheatre.co.uk/
