Pressure

Playwright: David Haig Director: John Dove Park Theatre, Clifton Terrace, London N4 (020-7870 6876) until 28 April; then on to Ambassadors Theatre, West Street, London WC2 (020-7395 5405) 6 June to 1 September Running time: 2hrs 50mins (including interval)

“The pleasure of a good yarn well-told is an elemental ingredient of theatre,” said Sarah Crompton on What’s On Stage. And David Haig’s “utterly engrossing” play about the little-known but vital role of weathermen in the run-up to D-day is a real cracker. First seen in 2014, Pressure stars Haig himself as Dr James Stagg, the dour Scottish meteorologist charged with giving life-or-death advice to General Eisenhower on when to order the Allied invasion of Normandy. It’s an “unostentatious” play that has a “quiet intensity” to it, covering a lot of ground without ever “resorting to patriotic cliché”. And it’s also wonderfully funny. This excellent touring revival, at Park Theatre in north London until late April, has just announced a “well-deserved” transfer into the West End from (appropriately enough) 6 June.

Haig’s taut, amusing and illuminating play has a great set-up, said Dominic Maxwell in The Times. It’s Friday 2 June 1944. Dr Stagg, the RAF’S senior meteorologist, is newly embedded with Eisenhower, and has grave doubts about whether the weather – balmy but with a storm brewing, he believes – will support the planned invasion on Monday 5 June. By contrast, Stagg’s American counterpart, Colonel Krick, sees only blue skies ahead. “Does Ike plump for Krick’s can-doishness, or Stagg’s Dalkeith mithering?” At first, as everyone argues over incoming fronts, we slightly worry that the entire play might consist “of the boring bits” of the weather forecast, said David Jays in The Sunday Times. This is, after all, a conflict that “plays out over isobars”. But fear not. It’s “gripping”.

This excellent play is ultimately about “unsung heroes, responsibility, integrity and the nature of bravery”, said Sarah Hemming in the FT. Haig gives an “immensely moving” performance as the intense, driven Stagg. And there are fine turns too from Malcolm Sinclair as the “flinty yet likeable” Eisenhower, from Laura Rogers as a “quietly stoic female lieutenant”, and from Bert Seymour as a supportive young officer.