In all the Terrence Rattigan plays I've seen he's given his female characters a rough ride. And there is nothing wrong with that, it means good parts for women. He reminds me a little of Ibsen in that respect.

So there is a little irony in the title, Variation on a Theme, as the heroine of the piece, Rose (Rachael Stirling), has a rough time in love. Rose has married her way into society from a modest upbringing in Birmingham hanging out in the right places and using her good looks and charm. She has a seductive personality that is a mixture of classy confidence and good-time girl.

The play is set at her villa in Cannes. Her daughter Fiona (Rebecca Birch) is on holiday from her English boarding school and the two are looked after by Hettie (Susan Tracy), a duchess who is working off her gambling debts as housekeeper/companion.

Rose is due to marry for the fourth time. Her fiance is a german businessman Kurt (Phil Cheadle) who flashes his cash and is not ashamed of having made his millions profiting from war. She needs his money as her alomony payments are sporadic and he wants a trophy wife. But then she meets Ron (Martin McCreadie) a ballet dancer, seven years her junior who is a little seduced by the lifestyle of the rich living on the French Riviera and more than a little seduced by Rose.

They share a similar background but this isn't a simple love story, with Rattigan it is never going to be. Rose and Ron's love is at once constructive and destructive. It exposes the dark as well as the light sides of their personalities, a mixture of yearning and neediness that is both caring and suffocating. The choices they face about their relationship are life-changing.