Terence Rattigan by other writers: Other works including discussions on Rattigan's theatre: Terence Rattigan Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan, CBE (10 June 191130 November 1977) was a British dramatist. He was one of England's most popular mid twentieth century dramatists. His plays are typically set in an upper-middle-class background. He wrote "The Winslow Boy" (1946), "The Browning Version" (1948), "The Deep Blue Sea" (1952) and "Separate Tables" (1954), among many others. A troubled homosexual, who saw himself as an outsider, his plays centred on issues of sexual frustration, failed relationships, and a world of repression and reticence. Terence Rattigan was born in 1911
Terence Rattigan "Aunt Edna" inspired Joe Orton to create "Edna Welthorpe", a mischievous alter ego stirring up controversy about his own plays. Rattigan was gay, with numerous lovers but no long-term partners, a possible exception being his "congenial companion ... and occasional friend" Michael Franklin. It has been claimed his work is essentially autobiographical, containing coded references to his sexuality, which he kept secret from all but his closest friends. There is some truth in this, but it risks being crudely reductive; for example, the repeated claim that Rattigan originally wrote "The Deep Blue Sea" as a play about male lovers, turned