Under the Blue Sky

The juiciest pleasure of David Eldridge's teachers' triptych, first seen at the Royal Court in 2000, is its exquisite structure. However, it's only the last act that really flies in Anna Mackmin's measured, detailed production, due largely to Francesca Annis's perfect portrait of an ageing woman, unable to believe she might grasp happiness at such a season. Elsewhere, Eldridge's dialogue seems freighted with a wider social commentary that never fully flowers, from ideas of self sacrifice and soldiering to the impact of the profession on affairs of the heart. Tate is wonderfully diverting as the salacious Michelle, but so entirely vile that her attack on Graham's pedagogic power-trip carries little punch.