Hastings - Secret romance and subterfuge in the Blitz

Spokesman Neil Sellman said: “Here at Last is Love is set in The Pink Sink, the bar beneath the Ritz Hotel, where a true story of secret romance and subterfuge at the height of the London Blitz is revealed. The play centres around the remarkable life of a woman known as Sodomy Johnson, who ensured The Pink Sink provided refuge, comfort, kindness – and more – to some of the most significant and glittering figures of wartime gay life.

“Here at Last is Love is based on a private archive of courageous, passionate letters written between The Pink Sink Set’s writers, actors, army officers and MI5 agents.

" These included playwright Terence Rattigan; screenwriter Paul Dehn, ‘the gay godfather of James Bond’; American poet Dunstan Thompson and Michael Pitt-Rivers, whose conviction in 1954 led to the law-changing Wolfenden Report.

“All their letters starkly expose both the social pressure gay men were under to keep their sexuality hidden and the full, joyful lives and loves they pursued in private that supported them through the horrors of active service.

“The play also includes some of the greatest songs of the era and part of an unpublished work by Terence Rattigan discovered in 2021 amongst Manners’ family papers, which has not heard in public for 89 years.

“Jason Morell directs an exciting cast, with the renowned operatic mezzo Louise Winter in the role of Sodomy Johnson. Following Manners’ success with Picture Perfect performed by the Olivier Award-winning Liza Sadovy at The Stables Theatre, Hastings, Here at Last is Love will run for five performances, from May 25-28.”