Rattigan’s deeply emotional drama is timeless in its exploration of the human condition, love, loss and despair. But it is also very much of its time – the 1950s – when the law, specifically on suicide, and social mores shaped the behaviour of the characters and contributed to the moral dilemmas.

The Wharf company tackle the highly charged themes of infidelity, unrequited passion and suicide, with searing honesty and sensitivity.

Annabel Chater is unimpeachable, as Hester, a judge’s wife, and vicar’s daughter, who deserts her husband for a dashing ex-wartime pilot, only to find he is unable to return the intensity of her emotions. Everything about her performance, voice, body language and pace is totally convincing and very moving.

Chris Palmer as Freddie, the object of her passion, is slightly less confident, and doesn’t quite catch the gung-ho brittleness of the disillusioned flyer, although he does convey well the man’s total bewilderment at Hester’s despair.

The wronged husband, Sir William Collyer, has an almost faultless interpreter in Lewis Cowen, who combines the stiff upper lip culture of Sir William’s legal calling, with an unexpected tenderness for his unfaithful wife. It is a beautifully balanced performance.

Warmth in a bleak drama comes from Tina Duffin, as an instantly likeable Mrs Elton, the compassionate landlady. Her kindness includes the disgraced doctor, Mr Miller, so crucial to Hester’s survival, played impeccably by Pete Wallis, his foreign accent subtly hinted at rather than emphasised.

Craig Fisher, Cassandra Smith and Toby Kinton complete this talented cast.

The set is spot-on, conveying shabby respectability. Deanna Capper takes the director’s honours.

This is classic Rattigan in his centenary year. It runs until November 5.