Terence Rattigan began his career as a writer of popular middle class light comedies. While the Sun Shines (1943), one of his early plays, was his second big success of those light comedies. It enjoyed, it is told, a London run of more than one thousand performances. It is a play full of scenes where we can laugh at and enjoy witty conversations of characters. There is a remark, however, that those witty conversations of characters depend too much on allusions to current topics of those days, that is, the Second World War and life in wartime London.
It is the aim of this paper to examine whether we can sufficiently appreciate the play with a little background knowledge of the war and life in wartime London. We also examine some other features of the play both as a comedy and a farce.