The Secret Rapture (play)

The Secret Rapture
Written by	David Hare
Date premiered	Lyttelton, Royal National Theatre, 1988
Original language	English
Setting	1980s Britain

The Secret Rapture is a 1988 British play by David Hare. Its premiere in the Lyttelton auditorium of the Royal National Theatre was directed by Howard Davies. British revivals of the play have included one at the Salisbury Playhouse in 2001 and at the Lyric Theatre, London in 2003. Hare later adapted it as 1993 film of the same title, also directed by Davies.

It is set in 1980s Britain and examines the impact of Thatcherism on personal relationships within the family of a junior government minister after her father's death. Hare states that its title refers to a nun's feeling of ecstasy on being received by God at the moment of her death, rather than the Protestant concept of the Rapture.

Estranged sisters Isobel and Marion are forced to reunite when their father dies and they must decide how to handle Katherine, their young, alcoholic, mentally unstable stepmother who has been left nothing but the rural home in which they were raised. Isobel and her lover Irwin own a small graphic design company that is struggling to stay afloat. Her sister suggests she and her born-again Christian husband Tom help them expand the business by finding investors and making Katherine a partner responsible for finding new business. Isobel has grave misgivings about the plan, but finally agrees to it when Marion convinces Irwin of its potential success. Before long, the strain of running the expanded business causes a deterioration in Isobel's relationship with Irwin, who is becoming increasingly dependent upon her, while at the same time Katherine's tenuous hold on sanity begins to unravel.

Isobel is sitting with the body of her father Robert, who has just died. Her elder sister Marion arrives to claim a ring she had given him and the two sisters begin to argue. Marion's husband Tom arrives and Marion leaves, angry with Isobel, then Tom and Isobel talk before leaving.

Isobel and her father's second wife, the alcoholic Katherine, sit in the garden of Robert's house just after his funeral. Marion and Tom arrive and an argument begins when Katherine suddenly introduces her idea that she would like to join Isobel's small design firm. Katherine storms out and finds a hidden bottle of drink before returning, whereupon the previously doubtful Isobel agrees that Katherine can join the firm.

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