James Purefoy, Sheridan Smith and More Join Sienna Miller in West End’s Flare Path

James Purefoy and Sheridan Smith will join the previously announced Sienna Miller in the upcoming West End production of Terrence Rattigan’s 1942 drama Flare Path, directed by Trevor Nunn. The play will begin performances on March 4 and open on March 10 at Theatre Royal Haymarket.

In addition to Miller, Purefoy and Smith, the cast will include Joe Armstrong, Sarah Crowden and Clive Woods. Final casting details will be announced shortly.

Flare Path is based on Rattigan’s own Bomber Command experiences when he served as a tail gunner during the Second World War. At the Falcon Hotel, on the edge of an airfield in Lincolnshire, Teddy, a young bomber pilot, is celebrating a reunion with his actress wife Patricia (Miller). Events take an unexpected turn, when Peter (Purefoy), a famous heartthrob film star, arrives, and an urgent bombing mission over Germany is ordered. As the night gives way to dawn, Patricia finds herself at the center of a passionate conflict of love and loyalty as unpredictable as the war in the skies.

Best known for playing Marc Antony HBO's Rome, Purefoy has appeared on the London stage in Macbeth, The Tempest, The Man Who Came to Dinner, King Lear, Hamlet, Present Laughter, Les Enfants du Paradis and The Relapse, directed by Trevor Nunn at the National Theatre. His television credits include The Philanthropist; film credits include Resident Evil, Vanity Fair, A Knight’s Tale and Solomon Kane.

Smith’s London stage credits include Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, Into the Woods, Ancient Lights, The People are Friendly, Tinderbox, Little Shop of Horrors, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Taming of the Shrew. Her television credits include Two Pints of Lager & A Packet of Crisps, The Royle Family, Grown Ups and Love Soup.

Flare Path, which features sets and costumes by Stephen Brimson Lewis, will play a limited engagement through June 4.