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In praise of love Recent years have seen a sustained revival of the work of Terence Rattigan. New productions have been greeted with surprised delight that the acknowledged master of the 'well made play' can continue to provoke such powerful emotions. As Rattigan himself wrote 'I believe that the best plays are about people, and not about things'. This volume is one of a series of new editions of his most enduring work. Each has an authoritative and up-to-date introduction, biographical sketch and chronology. An almost unbearably moving story of veiled emotions running deep, IN PRAISE OF LOVE is based on the true life situation of Rattigan's friend and frequent leading man, Rex Harrison, and his wife, Kay Kendall, who suffered an early death from cancer. In the play, Lydia is sheilding her husband, Sebastian, from the knowledge that she is dying from leukaemia. But Sebastian does in fact know and is seeking to spare her. The play ends without either of them openly acknowledging their true feelings... The final scene, according to Rattigan's biographer, Michael Darlow, is 'among the most perfectly crafted and economically effective passages anywhere in British drama.' This play is also known as 'After Lydia'.
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