Oxford Playhouse will stage In Praise of Love, Terence Rattigan’s rarely performed penultimate play, from 13 February to 6 March 2027, directed by artistic director Mike Tweddle.
Oxford Playhouse has announced a new production of In Praise of Love, running from 13 February to 6 March 2027 with a press night on Wednesday 17 February. Mike Tweddle, the theatre’s artistic director, directs.
It is an in-house production, and that is the substance of the announcement as much as the play is. The Playhouse returned to producing its own drama in February 2026 with Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, also directed by Tweddle, and this is the follow-up — part of a stated push to become a national hub of producing theatre rather than principally a receiving house.
The timing is deliberate. 2027 is the fiftieth anniversary of Rattigan’s death, and In Praise of Love is among his least revived works. Written late, it is also among his most personal.
The play is set in 1970s London. Sebastian, a celebrated literary critic, and his wife Lydia, a refugee from wartime Estonia, present the picture of a tired marriage. An old friend arrives, their son starts asking why his parents behave as they do, and a long-maintained arrangement of loyalty and deception starts to come apart.
Rattigan’s connection to the city is a real one rather than a marketing line. He read History at Trinity College and was an active member of the Oxford University Dramatic Society, and he co-wrote his first play, First Episode, while still an undergraduate.
“It’s a great privilege to stage this masterpiece — one of the most moving and intelligent plays I’ve read,” Tweddle said. “Rattigan described it as his favourite, and he gathered a lifetime of experience in creating it. I can’t think of a richer story to share with our audiences, as we continue to grow Oxford Playhouse’s reputation as a home for quality drama.”
The Sir Terence Rattigan Charitable Trust said: “Fifty years after his death, we’re thrilled that Oxford Playhouse are mounting this production of one of Rattigan’s most heart-felt, but rarely-seen works. Like many of his best plays, In Praise of Love is very autobiographical and deeply personal - written when Rattigan was facing the end of his life and in which he wrestles with his early ambitions as a writer and his fractious relationship with his father. It’s an enormously powerful family drama of secrets and lies driven by love. We’re very excited to see how Mike and his team at The Playhouse un-peel all the fascinating layers of this compelling late work.”
Set and costume design is by Liz Ascroft and Amanda Stoodley, with Robin Colyer as composer and sound designer and Will Hayman on lighting.
Oxford Playhouse is a registered charity and one of the country’s leading regional theatres, funded by Arts Council England, the University of Oxford, St John’s College and Oxford City Council. Its repertory years brought on Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, John Gielgud, Ian McKellen and Ronnie Barker.
In Praise of Love runs at Oxford Playhouse from Saturday 13 February to Saturday 6 March 2027. Press night is Wednesday 17 February, with a post-show talk on Wednesday 24 February.
