Terrance Rattigan’s wartime hit play, Flare Path, is coming to the Wycombe Swan, starring an actor from nearby St Albans.

The story follows Second World War pilot Teddy Graham who married his wife Patricia after a whirlwind romance before leaving for the war. He returns for one weekend only to discover that a former flame of his wife has returned and their future together is uncertain.

Daniel Fraser, who stars as Teddy, attended the Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys School and spent much of his youth performing with local drama groups at The Abbey Theatre in St Albans before going on to train professionally at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

Despite an evident interest in theatre, he did not always consider it as a career choice. He says: “It was a decision I came to quite late, at 17 or 18 years old, I was thinking about going to university and then thought actually I want to go to drama school.”

The decision was a good one, since finishing his education Daniel has played Gregory Cromwell in Royal Shakespeare Company productions of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies in Stratford, London and on Broadway.

He also appeared in Chariots of Fire at Hampstead Theatre and in the West End, as well as starring in the Sci-Fi films Frequencies, Lab Rats and the thriller Scar Tissue.

He says: “My favourite thing about my job is the ability to play other people, particularly with a play like this with a historical element. It’s an escape from everyday life, exploring something other than yourself.”

He adds: “A military adviser work with us on what it would be like in planes, what it would be like, say, if you’re engine was on fire.”

Daniel admits to getting a little nervous in the first few days of a show, when considering the cast had a brief two weeks to put the production together I would have expected much more.

Wycombe Swan Theatre, St Mary Street, High Wycombe, Tuesday, March 29 until Saturday, April 2. Details: 01494 512 000