Reykjavik (Modern Plays)

“‘For Those in Peril on the Sea’ makes dying at sea sound like something noble, patriotic. Whereas their husband, son or father has died for one half of a fish and chip supper…” February 1976. In freezing weather off the coast of Iceland, the sidewinder Graham Greene ices up, heels over, and sinks in seconds, taking fifteen of her crew with her. Such are the realities of the brutal world of arctic fishing. On impulse, despised trawlerowner Donald Claxton flies to Reykjavik to see the survivors, setting in train an evening of drinking, horseplay, romance and storytelling that will change all their lives forever. Richard Bean revisits Hull’s Distant Water trawling fleet that gave him his 2005 hit Under the Whaleback. His other plays include To Have and To Hold, Kiss Me and In the Club at Hampstead, One Man, Two Guvnors and Jack Absolute Flies Again at the National Theatre.